Editing Schematic (section)

{{Short description|Representation of a system using abstract graphic symbols}}
{{About|technical illustrations||Schema (disambiguation){{!}}Schema|Schematic (Band)||}}
{{more citations needed |date=October 2013}}
{{multiple image
   | direction = horizontal
   | total_width = 300
   | footer    = 
   | image1    = Human Chromosomes (crop 2).jpg
   | caption1  = [[Photomicrograph]] of the [[human chromosome]]s
   | image2    = Human karyotype with bands and sub-bands (simple).svg
   | caption2  = Schematic diagram of the same
}}
A '''schematic''', or '''schematic diagram''', is a designed representation of the elements of a [[system]] using abstract, graphic [[symbol]]s rather than realistic pictures. A schematic usually omits all details that are not relevant to the key information the schematic is intended to convey, and may include oversimplified elements in order to make this essential meaning easier to grasp, as well as additional organization of the information.

For example, a subway map intended for passengers may represent a subway station with a dot. The dot is not intended to resemble the actual station at all but aims to give the viewer information without unnecessary visual clutter. A schematic diagram of a chemical process uses symbols in place of detailed representations of the vessels, piping, valves, pumps, and other equipment that compose the system, thus emphasizing the functions of the individual elements and the interconnections among them and suppresses their physical details. In an electronic [[circuit diagram]], the layout of the symbols may not look anything like the circuit as it appears in the physical world: instead of representing the way the circuit ''looks'', the schematic aims to capture, on a more general level, the way it ''works''. This may be contrasted with a [[wiring diagram]], which preserves the spatial relationships between each of its components.