branch

branch

1. a secondary woody stem arising from the trunk or bough of a tree or the main stem of a shrub

2. a subdivision of the stem or root of any other plant

3. US any small stream

4. Maths a section of a curve separated from the rest of the curve by discontinuities or special points

5. Computing a departure from the normal sequence of programmed instructions into a separate program area

6. Physics an alternative route in an atomic or nuclear decay series

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Branch

 

an extension of a river. A branch is produced by sedimentation in the form of an alluvial islet or island or by breaks in meanders. A myriad of branches is especially characteristic of deltas. Less frequently, branches are produced when a current must bypass nonerodible rock projecting from the river bottom. Depending on changes in a stream’s regime, the current shapes alternating branches. A branch may become the principal stream when the original stream gradually shallows and turns into a secondary branch.

Local Russian names for branches include volozhka (Volga), poloi (Severnaia Dvina), rechishche (Dnieper), starodon’e (Don), and girlo (Danube). Secondary branches are called channels.

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Branch

 

an organization that is a part of another organization, enterprise, or institution and that has the status of a juridical person. The branch performs some of the parent organization’s functions, frequently in a place other than the organization’s headquarters. In Soviet law, branches are established according to procedures specified in the legislation of the USSR and Union republics. In civil operations, a branch acts on behalf of the legal person that formed it; the authority to do so comes from a power of attorney given to the director of the branch (art. 31 of the Civil Code of the RSFSR). The status of a representative of a legal person differs from that of a branch in that the former always operates in a place other than the headquarters of the organization and performs some auxiliary, rather than primary, function or activity.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

branch

[branch]

(botany)

A shoot or secondary stem on the trunk or a limb of a tree.

(computer science)

Any one of a number of instruction sequences in a program to which computer control is passed, depending upon the status of one or more variables.

jump

(electricity)

A portion of a network consisting of one or more two-terminal elements in series. Also known as arm.

(engineering)

In a piping system, a pipe that originates in or discharges into another pipe. Also known as branch line.

(hydrology)

A small stream that merges into another, generally bigger, stream.

(mathematics)

A complex function which is analytic in some domain and which takes on one of the values of a multiple-valued function in that domain.

A section of a curve that is separated from other sections of the curve by discontinuities, singular points, or other special points such as maxima and minima.

(nuclear physics)

A product resulting from one mode of decay of a radioactive nuclide that has two or more modes of decay.

(organic chemistry)

side chain

(science and technology)

An area of study representing an independent offshoot of a related basic discipline.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

branch

In plumbing, a pipe which originates in or discharges into a main, submain, riser, or stack.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

branch

(mathematics)

An edge in a tree.

branch

(programming)

A jump.

This article is provided by FOLDOC - Free Online Dictionary of Computing (foldoc.org)

branch

(1) In a low-level programming language, a statement that directs the computer to go to some other part of the program. In assembly languages, "branch" or "jump" instructions provide this capability. In high-level languages, a "goto" statement, as well as several other programming constructs, provide the equivalent of the branch. For example, "IF A EQUALS B GOTO MATCH_ROUTINE." See branch prediction and do loop.

(2) A connection between two blocks in a flowchart or two nodes in a network.

Copyright © 1981-2019 by The Computer Language Company Inc. All Rights reserved. THIS DEFINITION IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY. All other reproduction is strictly prohibited without permission from the publisher.