Editing Analysis (section)

{{Short description|Process of understanding a complex topic or substance}}
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[[File:Adriaen_Van_Ostade_-_L'Analyse_-_PDUT921_-_Musée_des_Beaux-Arts_de_la_ville_de_Paris.jpg|thumb|[[Adriaen van Ostade]], "Analysis" (1666)]]
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'''Analysis''' ({{plural form}}: '''analyses''') is the process of breaking a [[complexity|complex topic]] or [[Substance theory|substance]] into smaller parts in order to gain a better [[understanding]] of it. The technique has been applied in the study of [[mathematics]] and [[logic]] since before [[Aristotle]] (384–322 BC), though ''analysis'' as a formal concept is a relatively recent development.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Analysis|url=http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/analysis/|encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University|access-date=23 May 2012|first1=Michael| last1=Beaney|date=Summer 2012}}</ref>

The word comes from the [[Ancient Greek]] {{Lang|grc-Grek|ἀνάλυσις|italic=no}} (''analysis'', "a breaking-up" or "an untying" from ''ana-'' "up, throughout" and ''lysis'' "a loosening").<ref>{{cite web |author=Douglas Harper |year=2001–2012 |title=analysis (n.) |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=analysis |access-date=23 May 2012 |work=Online Etymology Dictionary |publisher=Douglas Harper}}</ref> From it also comes the word's plural, ''analyses''.

As a formal concept, the method has variously been ascribed to [[René Descartes]] (''[[Discourse on the Method]]''), and [[Galileo Galilei]]. It has also been ascribed to [[Isaac Newton]], in the form of a practical method of physical discovery (which he did not name).

The converse of analysis is [[wikt:synthesis|synthesis]]: putting the pieces back together again in a new or different whole.