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Printing Calculators
An asterisk (*), is a typographical symbol or glyph. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (Latin astrum). more...
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Computer scientists and mathematicians often pronounce it as star (as, for example, in the A* search algorithm or C* algebra).
The asterisk derives from the need of the printers of family trees in feudal times for a symbol to indicate date of birth. The original shape was six-armed, each arm like a teardrop shooting from the center. For this reason, in some computer circles it is called a splat, perhaps due to the "squashed-bug" appearance of the asterisk on many early line printers.
Many cultures have their own unique version of the asterisk. In Japan a character with a similar use looks like an X with dots surrounding it. This mark looks like the Chinese character for rice: 米. The Arabic asterisk is six-pointed. In some fonts the asterisk is five-pointed and the Arabic star is eight-pointed.
Usage
Written text
The asterisk is used to call out a footnote, especially when there is only one on the page. Less commonly, multiple asterisks are used to denote different footnotes on a page. (i.e., *, **, ***);
Three spaced asterisks centered on a page may represent a jump to a different scene or thought. See Horizontal rule.;
One or more asterisks may be used to strike out portions of a word to to avoid offending by using the full form of a profanity (s**t), to preserve anonymity (Peter J***), or to avoid profanation of a holy name (G*d).;
Asterisks are sometimes used instead of typographical bullets to indicate items of a list.;
Colloquially, asterisks can be used to represent *emphasis* when italics are not available;
Asterisks are used to represent ratings of movies, restaurants, etc.: see Star (classification).;
Linguistics
Historical linguistics
In historical linguistics, an asterisk next to a word indicates that the word is not directly attested, but has been reconstructed on the basis of other linguistic material (see also historical linguistics, comparative method).;
Generativist tradition in linguistics
In generativism, especially syntax, an asterisk next to a word or phrase indicates that the word or phrase is ungrammatical.;
Computing
Computer science
In computer science, the asterisk is used in regular expressions to denote zero or more repetitions of a pattern; this use is known as the Kleene star or Kleene closure after Stephen Kleene.
Read more at Wikipedia.org
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