Embedding
Level 3
A list of numbers that captures the meaning of a piece of text or an image.
Term 3 of 7 in Data and databases
In plain language
An embedding turns content into coordinates. Things with similar meaning end up close together, which lets software compare meaning rather than matching exact words.
Think of it like this
Placing every book in a library on a map, so that similar books are neighbours regardless of title.
Why it matters
Embeddings are what make search feel like it understands you rather than just matching keywords.
Next terms in Data and databases
- DatasetA collection of examples gathered for a model to learn from or be tested on.
- Structured and unstructured dataStructured data lives in neat rows and columns; unstructured data does not.
- Vector databaseA database built to store embeddings and find the closest matches fast.
- Retrieval augmented generationFetching relevant documents first, then asking the model to answer using them.