gap

Gap (gäp), city (1990 pop. 35,647), capital of Hautes-Alpes dept., SE France, on the Luye River at the foot of the Dauphiné Alps. A center for tourism, Gap is an agricultural market that manufactures clothing, wood products, and construction materials. Founded by Augustus c.14 B.C., it was the capital of medieval Gapençais, which was annexed to the crown of France in 1512. The city was devastated during the Wars of Religion (16th cent.).

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gap

(1) The space between blocks of data on magnetic tape.

(2) The space in a read/write head over which magnetic flux (energy) flows causing the underlying magnetic tape or disk surface to become magnetized in the corresponding direction.

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gap

1. a break in a line of hills or mountains affording a route through

2. Chiefly US a gorge or ravine

3. Electronics

a. a break in a magnetic circuit that increases the inductance and saturation point of the circuit

b. See spark gap

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gap [gap]

(communications)

A region not adequately covered by the main lobes of a radar antenna.

(computer science)

A uniformly magnetized area in a magnetic storage device (tape, disk), used to indicate the end of an area containing information.

(electricity)

The spacing between two electric contacts.

(electromagnetism)

A break in a closed magnetic circuit, containing only air or filled with a nonmagnetic material.

(genetics)

A short region that is missing in one strand of a double-stranded deoxyribonucleic acid.

(geography)

Any sharp, deep notch in a mountain ridge or between hills.

(metallurgy)

An opening at the point of closest approach between faces of members in a weld joint.

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(mathematics, tool)

GAP - Groups Algorithms and Programming. A system for symbolic mathematics for computational discrete algebra, especially group theory, by Johannes Meier, Alice Niemeyer, Werner Nickel, and Martin Schonert of Aachen. GAP was designed in 1986 and implemented 1987. Version 2.4 was released in 1988 and version 3.1 in 1992. Sun version. ["GAP 3.3 Manual, M. Schonert et al, Lehrstuhl D Math, RWTH Aachen, 1993].