Asterisk

An asterisk (*; from Late Latin asteriscus, from Ancient Greek ἀστερίσκος, asteriskos, "little star") is a typographical symbol or glyph. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often vocalize it as star (as, for example, in the A* search algorithm or C*-algebra). In English, an asterisk is usually five-pointed in sans-serif typefaces, six-pointed in serif typefaces, and six- or eight-pointed when handwritten. It can be used as censorship. It is also used on the internet to correct one's spelling, in which case it appears after or before the corrected word.

The asterisk is derived from the need of the printers of family trees in feudal times for a symbol to indicate date of birth. The original shape was seven-armed, each arm like a teardrop shooting from the center.

In computer science, the asterisk is commonly used as a wildcard character, or to denote pointers, repetition, or multiplication.

Usage

Censorship

When toning down expletives, asterisks are often used to replace letters. For example, the word 'fuck' might become 'f*ck' or even '****'.

Asterisk (song)

"Asterisk" (＊～アスタリスク～, Asutarisuku) is the 10th single from Orange Range.

It was used as the first opening to the anime Bleach. It reached the top of the Oricon Weekly Single Charts for sales for the weeks of March 7 and March 14, 2005, and was the number 1 song on the Oricon in March 2005. For the Oricon's first-half-of-the-year ranking it reached number 2 and was the number 4 best selling song for the year of 2005. It is one of Orange Range's most successful singles, selling 628,329 copies. It was certified Double Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of Japan for physical copies and Platinum for its digital sales.

Track listing

References

Asterisk (disambiguation)

An asterisk is a typographic symbol, the glyph *

Asterisk may also refer to:

See also