Editing Diagram (section)

== Diagrammatology ==
[[Diagrammatology]] is the academic study of diagrams. Scholars note that while a diagram may look similar to the thing that it represents, this is not necessary. Rather a diagram may only have [[structural similarity]] to what it represents, an idea often attributed to [[Charles Sanders Peirce]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/648770148 |title=Studies in Diagrammatology and Diagram Praxis |date=2010 |publisher=College Publications |editor-first1=Olga |editor-last1=Pombo |editor-first2=Alexander |editor-last2=Gerner |isbn=978-1-84890-007-3 |location=London |oclc=648770148}}</ref>{{Rp|page=42}} Structural similarity can be defined in terms of a mapping between parts of the diagram and parts of what the diagram represents and the properties of this mapping, such as maintaining relations between these parts and facts about these relations. This is related to the concept of [[isomorphism]], or [[homomorphism]] in mathematics.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=43}} 

Sometimes certain [[Geometry|geometric]] properties (such as which points are closer) of the diagram can be mapped to properties of the thing that a diagram represents. On the other hand, the representation of an object in a diagram may be overly specific and properties that are true in the diagram may not be true for the object the diagram represents.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=48}} A diagram may act as a means of cognitive extension allowing [[Visual thinking|reasoning]] to take place on the diagram based on which constraints are similar.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=50}}