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'Parity' is a concept of equality of status or functional equivalence. It has several different specific definitions.

★ parity (physics): In physics 'parity' is the name of the symmetry of interactions under spatial inversion.

★ parity (mathematics): In mathematics, 'parity' indicates whether a number is even or odd.

★ parity (medicine) refers to the number of times a woman or female animal has given birth.

★ In computing, a parity bit is a very simple example of an error detecting code. See also RAM parity.

★ In economics, 'purchasing power parity (PPP)' is an estimate of the exchange rate required to equalise the purchasing power of different currencies, given the prices of goods and services in the countries concerned.

★ in economic history, parity was the ratio of farm income to farm expenditure with 1910-1914 as a base. Farm interests from 1920s to 1960s wanted federal programs to raise their income to parity.

★ In finance, interest rate parity refers to the notion that the differential in interest rates between two countries is equal to the differential between the forward exchange rate and the spot exchange rate.

★ In Human Genetics, base parity is the G/C ratio in regions of DNA.

★ In financial mathematics, put-call parity defines a relationship between the price of a European call option and a European put option - both with the identical strike price and expiry.

★ In sports, parity refers to engineering an equal playing field in which all teams can compete, regardless of their economic circumstances.

★ In demography, parity means the number of reproductive events (births).

★ Potty parity attempts to equalize the waiting times of males and females in restroom queues by designating or building more women's restrooms, giving them more facilities to use.

★ Parity is a tactic in othello.

★ Militarily, it refers to having a comparable force as one's enemy, such as geopolitically as in mutual assured destruction.