Subsequences

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A collection of elements sampled from a larger group while maintaining their original arrangement represents a specific type of order
2. An ordered subset obtained from a main set, preserving the sequence order by possibly omitting some elements is a particular characteristic
3. A specific set of elements derived from a larger set while keeping their relative arrangement intact represents a critical concept in mathematics and computer science

Etymology: "Subsequences" is the plural of "subsequence," a noun formed in English from the prefix "sub-" (under, below) and "sequence," which comes from Latin "sequentia," meaning a following or succession, from "sequi," to follow. The result is a neat piece of English word-building: a "subsequence" is literally something that follows under or within something larger, a series picked out from a longer series while its order is preserved. The English adjective "subsequent," meaning coming after, provides the closer ancestor, and "subsequence" was built on that same sense of coming after. In mathematics and computer science the term is used precisely: the elements of a sequence can be dropped, but the remaining ones must stay in their original order. This is why "abc" is a subsequence of "aebdc" but "cba" is not, even though all three letters appear.

Synonyms: subsets, portions