science

What

What is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand What rather than just read about it. In short: What or WHAT may refer to: What, an English interrogative word "What?", one of the Five Ws used in journalism Film and television What! (film), also known as The Whip and the Body, a 1963 Italian film directed by Mario Bava What?

Key takeaways

What belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect What to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of What from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

What or WHAT may refer to:

What, an English interrogative word "What?", one of the Five Ws used in journalism

Film and television What! (film), also known as The Whip and the Body, a 1963 Italian film directed by Mario Bava What? (film), a 1972 film directed by Roman Polanski "What?!", a 2019 episode of the TV series Barry "What", the name of the second baseman in Abbott and Costello's comedy routine "Who's on First?" "What?", the catchphrase of professional wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin

Music

Songs "What" (song), written by H. B. Barnum, first recorded by Melinda Marx, 1965; covered by Judy Street (1968) and Soft Cell (1982) "What?" (Rob Zombie song), 2009 "What?" (SB19 song), 2021 "What?", by 666 from The Soft Boys "What", by Bassnectar from Vava Voom "What?", by Corrosion of Conformity from Eye for an Eye "What?", by the Move from Looking On "What?", by A Tribe Called Quest from The Low-End Theory

Other uses in music what., a comedy/music album by Bo Burnham, 2013 What Records, a UK record label specializing in punk and indie music What? Records, a US record label

Science and technology Web Hypertext Application Technology, a technology standard for web applications What.CD, a defunct private music tracker website for BitTorrent users WhatsApp, a cross-platform messaging and Voice over IP service owned by Facebook What?, a book by Indian science writer Sukanya Datta

Other uses WHAT (AM), a radio station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US Winter Haven Area Transit, a transit system in Florida, US

See also Wat (disambiguation) Watt (disambiguation) WUT (disambiguation) Que (disambiguation)

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with What

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what What claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to What before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about What ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of What

In research: What appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses What in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: What is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Broadcast call sign disambiguation pages, Disambiguation pages, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for What outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “What” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study What in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what What means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain What out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is What in simple terms?

What or WHAT may refer to: What, an English interrogative word "What?", one of the Five Ws used in journalism Film and television What! (film), also known as The Whip and the Body, a 1963 Italian film directed by Mario Bava What?

Why does What matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study What?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on What.