User:Dpleibovitz/sandbox/Category (grouping)

This page is about categorization in general and the kinds of formal and informal 'categories' in actual use. For the categorization mechanism of Wikipedia, see Help:Category.

See also: category

A category is one of many similar grouping concepts and this category contains those distinguished by that name, whether formal or informal, specifically to highlight their variety, but more importantly, to categorize their commonalities. All have a week notion of equivalence or similarity - items are clearly in or out of that category, or similar to its norm. Often, numbers label the category, but whether these indicate order is inconsistent. Often, a different grouping term, provides the same function in a related field. For example

Kinds of Groupings - weak Equivalence classes

Category	Class	Kind	Group	Type	Tier	Level
1, 2, 3, ... A, B, C, ... I, V, X, ...	1, 2, 3, ... A, B, C, ... I, V, X, ...	1st, 2nd, 3rd, ...	1, 2, 3, ... A, B, C, ... I, V, X, ...	1, 2, 3, ... A, B, C, ... I, V, X, ...	1, 2, 3, ... A, B, C, ... I, V, X, ...	1, 2, 3, ... A, B, C, ... I, V, X, ...

Unfortunately, the use of the term category ranges from an informal label, some categorization/classification scheme, to formal theories. However, every member of a category is somehow equivalent or similar as another, and this category contains the many ways category is formally and informally used. It does not contain instances of use in articles related to popular culture, e.g., Category 7: The End of the World.

However, because the definition and use of every category of category is somewhat arbitrary, this category collects simplifications and assumptions that can lead to framing, falsehood and ignorance. For example, under one categorization (age), boy and girl are similar, but under sex, they can be different.

Characteristics common to all grouping "Categories"

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"Categories" vs. Categories

This article focuses on the many actual and informal grouping related uses of the word category because the word is often technically incorrect according to some formal scheme.

Category trees

Categories can be organized into tree structures that have child subcategories (or "branches"), or parent super-categories (or "bases"). These need not be purely nested.

The main category for this article is Category:Category (grouping), and this Wikipedia category is an example of a multi-class category.

See also

• All pages with titles containing category
• Category:Contents, the top level of Wikipedia's category system.

External links

• Searching 'category' @ tools.wmflabs.org