parent (redirected from Parental unit)

parent

1. a father or mother

2. Rare an ancestor

3. 

a. an organism or organization that has produced one or more organisms or organizations similar to itself

b. (as modifier): a parent organism

4. Physics Chem

a. a precursor, such as a nucleus or compound, of a derived entity

b. (as modifier): a parent nucleus

---

parent [′per·ənt]

(computer science)

An element that precedes a given element in a data structure.

(nuclear physics)

A radionuclide that upon disintegration yields a specified nuclide, the daughter, either directly, or indirectly as a later member of a radioactive series.

(quantum mechanics)

If ann-electron state is written as a sum of products of 1-electron states and (n- 1)-electron states, the (n- 1)-electron states are called the parents of then-electron states.

---

(mathematics, data)

parent - The ancestor node in a tree that points to the current node (one of its child nodes).