README.md

In rformassspectrometry/MsQuantitation: Mass Spectrometry Quantitation

Quantitation of Mass Spectrometry Data

The MsQuantitation package quantitates raw mass spectrometry data extracted from Spectra objects into QFeatures instances.

Quantitation or quantification?

The two words are mostly synonyms, although quantification/quantify is more widely used as quantitation/quantitate. This source seemed to suggest a minor difference:

• Quantify (verb): To assign a quantity to or to determine the value of (a variable or expression).

• Quantitate (verb): To measure the quantity of, especially with high accuracy and taking uncertainty into account, as in quantitative analysis.

Dr J. H. Marshall, Associate Editor Oxford English Dictionary, in slides by Chris Turk and the ABRF PRG2006 Research Study on Relative Quantification (see last slide), mentions that the actual meaning of the two words appears to be the same, and some technical glossaries state explicitly that they are interchangeable.

• Quantification is the usual word. It was introduced by logicians in the mid 19th century, but from the late 19th century was adopted by mathematicians, scientists, and writers in a wide range of fields.

• Quantitation was introduced by statisticians in the late 19th century, on the grounds that it was slightly shorter, and avoided confusion with the concept of quantification in logic. However, it did not become so widely used, except in connection with certain kinds of scientific analysis, particularly in biochemistry and related fields, which is the context of all the examples cited in the complete Oxford English Dictionary. It is perhaps kept current in these fields because of its constant use alongside the related adjective 'quantitative'.

Based on the above, the name of this package was chosen to officially be MsQuantitation, but it could just has been MsQuantification.

Contributions

Please the R for Mass Spectrometry code of conduct and contribution guidelines.

rformassspectrometry/MsQuantitation documentation built on June 7, 2022, 5:46 a.m.