{ "model": { "rank": 11494, "code": "thing-q1193832", "model_id": "vr.tr.sign", "name": "sign", "purpose": "Let an agent treat sign as a well-defined property with conventions for zero and for signed zero in computing, rather than as a symbol only.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Cross-cutting context", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "XCT", "domain": "XCT.STA", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q1193832/", "tier": 2, "score": 42, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [], "aliasCount": 0, "merged": 0, "knownIn": 42, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": "vr.tr.sign-3", "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q1193832", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1193832", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-11T04:26:33Z", "providers": [ "Claude" ], "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify", "pass": 2, "wave": 1, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q1193832", "registryId": "vr.tr.sign", "name": "sign", "version": "0.2.0-wave.1", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "XCT.STA" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q1193832/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.sign", "name": "sign", "purpose": "Let an agent treat sign as a well-defined property with conventions for zero and for signed zero in computing, rather than as a symbol only.", "definition": "In mathematics, the property of a nonzero real number of being positive or negative, and the symbol or function that expresses it.", "what_it_is_for": "Expressing direction and polarity of quantities, and simplifying rules for arithmetic and comparison.", "affordances": [ "determine it, with the sign function", "change it, by negation", "combine it, by the rules for multiplying signs", "store it, as a sign bit in computer number formats" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Zero is neither positive nor negative in the usual convention", "Floating point has a signed zero, with +0 and -0 compared equal but behaving differently", "Sign generalises to complex numbers as x divided by its absolute value", "Other senses of sign, such as signs and signage, are different entries" ], "appearance": "The symbols plus and minus, and the sign function sgn(x) that returns -1, 0 or 1.", "visual_identification": [ "A leading minus or plus before a number", "A sign bit in binary floating point or signed integer formats", "The notation sgn(x) in formulas" ], "physical_properties": [], "families_and_kinds": [ "sign of a real number", "sign function", "sign bit in computer representations", "sign of a permutation" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a property of", "target": "real number", "why": "defined for nonzero reals" }, { "relation": "is related to", "target": "absolute value", "why": "x equals sign times absolute value" }, { "relation": "is confused with", "target": "sign as in signage", "why": "a homonym; this entry is mathematical" }, { "relation": "is represented by", "target": "sign bit", "why": "how computers store it" } ], "identifiers": [], "standards_and_regulation": [ "IEEE 754 floating point, which defines signed zero and sign bit behaviour", "ISO 80000-2 mathematical signs and symbols" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Treating -0 and +0 as different in comparisons, or as the same where they differ", "Losing the sign in conversions between formats", "Integer overflow that flips the sign" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "definition", "name": "Definition", "description": "What sign means for numbers.", "rationale": "Sign is simple for nonzero reals and conventional at zero and beyond the reals.", "layers": [ { "id": "reals", "name": "Real numbers", "description": "Positive, negative and zero.", "findings": [ { "id": "reals-finding", "name": "Real sign", "description": "The sign of a real value and the rule for zero.", "questions": [ { "text": "What is the sign of this value, and which convention applies to zero?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Is the value exactly zero or only rounded to zero?", "kind": "measurement" } ] } ] }, { "id": "extension", "name": "Extensions", "description": "Complex numbers and permutations.", "findings": [ { "id": "extension-finding", "name": "Extended definitions", "description": "How sign is defined outside the reals.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which generalisation of sign applies here?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Is the extension defined for this input?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "arithmetic", "name": "Arithmetic", "description": "Rules for combining signs.", "rationale": "Sign rules drive simplification and error checking in calculations.", "layers": [ { "id": "rules", "name": "Sign rules", "description": "Products and quotients of signs.", "findings": [ { "id": "rules-finding", "name": "Combination rules", "description": "The rules used.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which sign rules apply to this operation?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Where do sign errors most often occur in this calculation?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "comparison", "name": "Comparison", "description": "Ordering by sign.", "findings": [ { "id": "comparison-finding", "name": "Ordering", "description": "How sign affects comparisons.", "questions": [ { "text": "How does sign affect ordering and comparison here?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "What happens with negative zero in comparisons?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "computing", "name": "Computing", "description": "Sign in number formats.", "rationale": "Computers store sign explicitly, and the representation leaks into results.", "layers": [ { "id": "representation", "name": "Representation", "description": "Sign bit, two complement.", "findings": [ { "id": "representation-finding", "name": "Storage format", "description": "How sign is stored.", "questions": [ { "text": "How is sign represented in this number format?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "What range limits can flip the sign on overflow?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "signed-zero", "name": "Signed zero", "description": "Plus and minus zero.", "findings": [ { "id": "signed-zero-finding", "name": "Signed zero behaviour", "description": "Where signed zero changes results.", "questions": [ { "text": "Does signed zero change the result of this operation?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "text": "How should signed zero be displayed to people?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "notation", "name": "Notation", "description": "Writing sign.", "rationale": "Notation differs across typography and locales, and machine reading must handle the variants.", "layers": [ { "id": "symbols", "name": "Symbols", "description": "Minus, hyphen and plus.", "findings": [ { "id": "symbols-finding", "name": "Symbol variants", "description": "The characters used.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which character represents the minus sign in this text?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "How should a hyphen used as minus be handled when parsing?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "function", "name": "Sign function", "description": "sgn(x) notation.", "findings": [ { "id": "function-finding", "name": "Function notation", "description": "How the sign function is written.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which notation for the sign function is used here?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "What value does it return at zero in this source?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Should the sign of a permutation be a separate entry?", "How should the signed zero of floating point be modelled?", "Should the registry record which conventions an agent uses for sgn(0)?", "The registry entry has no aliases or definition; is the mathematical sense the one intended?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 8, "questions": 16 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "abstract concept", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a sign, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent treat sign as a well-defined property with conventions for zero and for signed zero in computing, rather than as a symbol only.", "characteristics": { "substance": "abstract", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "inert" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "observed and measured" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Described in 42 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a sign, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "an abstraction with no physical instance", "physicalCharacter": [ "Does nothing on its own; everything it does, something else did to it.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "observe it, measure it, record its state" ], "howItIsRecognised": [ "Nothing to see. What is recognised is an instance of it, and which instances count is exactly what is argued about." ], "relatedModels": [], "standing": "Described in 42 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one sign from another, and a sign from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a sign, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a sign, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a sign is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a sign, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a sign, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a sign is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a sign sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a sign, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a sign, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a sign is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a sign from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a sign, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a sign, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a sign is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a sign passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a sign between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a sign, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a sign, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a sign is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a sign, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a sign is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a sign, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a sign, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a sign is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "definitions-in-contest", "name": "Definitions and who holds them", "description": "What sign is taken to mean, and by whom.", "rationale": "When a field disagrees about a concept, the disagreement is the content. A model that picks one definition silently destroys the information.", "layers": [ { "id": "competing-definitions", "name": "Competing definitions", "description": "The main readings and the traditions behind them.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-map", "name": "Definitions and their holders", "description": "Each definition with the school or body that holds it.", "questions": [ { "id": "definition-map-q01", "text": "Which definitions of sign are in use, and which tradition or body holds each?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "definition-map-q02", "text": "What turns on the difference between them in practice?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "operationalisation", "name": "Operationalisation", "description": "How it is measured or applied when it has to be.", "findings": [ { "id": "operational-record", "name": "Measures and proxies", "description": "Instruments and indicators used to stand in for it.", "questions": [ { "id": "operational-record-q01", "text": "How is sign operationalised or measured in practice, and by what instrument?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "id": "operational-record-q02", "text": "What does that operationalisation leave out, and when does that matter?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "instances-and-use", "name": "Instances, use and consequence", "description": "What counts as an instance of sign and what follows from calling something that.", "rationale": "Applying a concept is an act with consequences, so a model must say what the label licenses and what it does not.", "layers": [ { "id": "instances", "name": "What counts as an instance", "description": "Clear cases, borderline cases and non-cases.", "findings": [ { "id": "instance-tests", "name": "Tests for an instance", "description": "What would settle whether something falls under it.", "questions": [ { "id": "instance-tests-q01", "text": "What would settle whether something is an instance of sign?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "id": "instance-tests-q02", "text": "Which borderline cases are argued about, and on what grounds?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] }, { "id": "consequence", "name": "Consequence of application", "description": "Rights, duties or decisions that follow from the label.", "findings": [ { "id": "consequence-record", "name": "What the label licenses", "description": "What an agent may do once something is classified this way.", "questions": [ { "id": "consequence-record-q01", "text": "What follows practically once something is treated as sign?", "kind": "action" }, { "id": "consequence-record-q02", "text": "What must an agent not infer from the label alone?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a sign came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a sign and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a sign, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a sign, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a sign is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a sign is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a sign, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a sign, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a sign is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 5, "layers": 10, "findings": 12, "questions": 32 } } } }