Pound sterling

The pound sterling (symbol: £; ISO code: GBP), commonly known simply as the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, the British Antarctic Territory, and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence (singular: penny). A number of nations that do not use sterling also have currencies called the pound. At various times, the pound sterling was commodity money or bank notes backed by silver or gold, but it is currently fiat money, backed only by the economy in the areas where it is accepted. The pound sterling is the world's oldest currency still in use and which has been in continuous use since its inception.

The British Crown dependencies of Guernsey and Jersey produce their own local issues of sterling: "Guernsey pound" and "Jersey pound". The pound sterling is also used in the Isle of Man (alongside the Manx pound),Gibraltar (alongside the Gibraltar pound), the Falkland Islands (alongside the Falkland Islands pound), Saint Helena and Ascension Island in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha (alongside the Saint Helena pound). The Bank of England is the central bank for the pound sterling, issuing its own coins and banknotes, and regulating issuance of banknotes by private banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Banknotes issued by other jurisdictions are not regulated by the Bank of England; local governments use Bank of England notes as backing for local issuance by allowing them to be exchanged 1:1 at face value.

Pound (currency)

The pound is a unit of currency in some nations. The term originated in Great Britain as the value of a pound (weight) of silver.

The word pound is the English translation of the Latin word libra pondo, which means "weighed on to scales" and was the unit of account of the Roman Empire. The British pound derived from the Roman libra, which is why the pound (mass) is often initialised to 'lb'; along with the French livre, the Italian lira and the Portuguese Libra, when, during Middle Ages the European countries adopted the LSD system.

The currency's symbol is £, a stylised representation of the letter L, standing for livre or lira. Historically, £1 worth of silver coins were a troy pound in weight; in April 2011 this amount of silver was worth approximately £300 sterling.

Today, the term may refer to a number of (primarily British and related) currencies and a variety of obsolete currencies. Some of them, those official in former Italian states and in countries formerly belonging to the Ottoman Empire, are called pound in English, while in the local languages their official name is lira.

Pound (force)

The pound or pound-force (symbol: lb, lb_f, or lbf) is a unit of force used in some systems of measurement including English Engineering units and the British Gravitational System. Pounds of force are not to be confused with foot-pounds or pounds-feet, which are a unit of torque, and may be written as "lb·ft" or "lb_f·ft".

Definitions

The pound-force is equal to the gravitational force exerted on a mass of one avoirdupois pound on the surface of Earth. Since the 18th century, the unit has been used in low-precision measurements, for which small changes in Earth's gravity (which varies from place to place by up to half a percent) can safely be neglected.

The 20th century, however, brought the need for a more precise definition. A standardized value for acceleration due to gravity was therefore needed. Today, in accordance with the General Conference on Weights and Measures, standard gravity is usually taken to be 9.80665 m/s² (about 32.174 049 ft/s²).

The acceleration of the standard gravitational field (g_n) and the international avoirdupois pound (lbm) define the pound-force as:

Performance

A performance, in the performing arts, generally comprises an event in which a performer or group of performers present one or more works of art to an audience. Usually the performers participate in rehearsals beforehand. Afterwards audience members often applaud. After a performance, performance measurement sometimes occurs. Performance measurement is the process of collecting, analyzing and reporting information regarding the performance of an individual, group, organization, system or component.

The means of expressing appreciation can vary by culture. Chinese performers will clap with the audience at the end of a performance; the return applause signals "thank you" to the audience. In Japan, folk performing-arts performances commonly attract individuals who take photographs, sometimes getting up to the stage and within inches of performer's faces.

Sometimes the dividing line between performer and the audience may become blurred, as in the example of "participatory theatre" where audience members get involved in the production.

Computer performance

Computer performance is characterized by the amount of useful work accomplished by a computer system or computer network compared to the time and resources used. Depending on the context, high computer performance may involve one or more of the following:

Technical and non-technical definitions

The performance of any computer system can be evaluated in measurable, technical terms, using one or more of the metrics listed above. This way the performance can be

Whilst the above definition relates to a scientific, technical approach, the following definition given by Arnold Allen would be useful for a non-technical audience:

Performance (Eloy album)

Performance is the twelfth album by German progressive rock band Eloy, which was released in 1983.

Track listing

All songs composed and arranged by Eloy. Lyrics by Sigi Hausen.

Tracks 8, 9 and 10 are bonus tracks from the 2005 remastered edition.

Personnel

References

External links