519,064 articles
Backup
A backup, also called a data backup, is a second copy of data kept so the original can be recovered after deletion, corruption, hardware failure, or ransomware.
Backup camera
A backup camera, also called a rearview camera, is a rear-facing camera showing the driver the area behind a vehicle, required on new US light vehicles since 2018.
Backus–Naur form
Backus-Naur form (BNF, Backus normal form), created by John Backus in 1959 and applied to ALGOL 60 by Peter Naur, is a production-rule notation for context-free grammars; extended as EBNF and ABNF (RFC 5234, STD 68) for Internet specifications.
Backward Bent Duct Buoy
The Backward Bent Duct Buoy (BBDB) is a floating wave energy converter with an L-shaped duct opening away from the waves, proposed by Yoshio Masuda in the 1980s.
Backward chaining
Backward chaining is a goal-driven inference method that starts from a hypothesis and works backward through rules to find supporting facts; it underlies Prolog and expert systems.
Backward compatibility
Backward compatibility lets newer consoles run older systems' games via hardware chips, emulation, recompilation, or streaming. Covers PS5 (99% of PS4 games), Xbox (~600 of 2,000+ Xbox 360 titles), Nintendo's shift to Switch Online, licensing barriers, and preservation trade-offs.
Backward design
Backward design, sometimes called understanding by design, is a curriculum planning method that sets learning goals and assessments before teaching activities, introduced by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe in 1998.
Backward differentiation formula
The backward differentiation formula (BDF) is a family of implicit linear multistep methods for stiff ordinary differential equations, first used in Curtiss and Hirschfelder's 1952 paper.
Backward diode
The backward diode, or back diode, is a tunnel diode variant that conducts better in reverse bias, used mainly as a zero-bias detector of small microwave signals.
Backward error analysis
Backward error analysis is a numerical analysis technique that judges a computed result by how much the input data must be perturbed for it to be exact.
Backward Euler method
The backward Euler method, also called implicit Euler, is a first-order implicit method for integrating ordinary differential equations, valued for its stability on stiff problems.
Backward induction
Backward induction is a game theory method for solving sequential games by determining optimal moves at each decision node, working from the end of the game back to the start.
Backward integration
Backward integration is a form of vertical integration in which a firm moves upstream to own the inputs it buys, aiming to cut costs and secure supply.
Backward stochastic differential equation
A backward stochastic differential equation (BSDE) is a stochastic equation solved backward from a terminal condition, used in finance, optimal control, and gene expression modeling.
Backward-wave oscillator
The backward-wave oscillator (BWO), also called the Carcinotron, is a vacuum electron tube that generates microwave oscillations by letting an electron beam interact with a backward-traveling wave.
Backwardation
Backwardation is the condition of a futures market in which the price for later delivery is below the spot price, the opposite of contango; it typically signals a tight physical market.
Backwashing
Backwashing is a water-treatment filter cleaning method that reverses flow upward through a granular bed or backward through a membrane, flushing out trapped particles to restore capacity.
Backyard Babies
Backyard Babies are a Swedish glam-punk and sleaze rock band formed in Nässjö in 1987 (originally Tyrant), with the unchanged lineup of Nicke Borg, Dregen, Johan Blomqvist, and Peder Carlsson; eight albums, two Grammis Awards, and number-one Swedish chart albums.
Backyard Baseball (1997 video game)
Backyard Baseball (1997) is Humongous Entertainment's point-and-click children's baseball game, first in the Backyard Sports series, with 30 fictional kids including Pablo Sanchez; remastered as Backyard Baseball '97 on Steam in 2024.
Backyard Baseball (2026 video game)
Backyard Baseball (2026) is an arcade baseball game by Mega Cat Studios and Playground Productions, released July 9, 2026 on Steam; a 3D Unity reimagining of the 1997 Humongous classic with 30 Backyard Kids, 11 stadiums, and no microtransactions.
Backyard Sports: The Animated Special
Backyard Sports: The Animated Special, also promoted as Sticky Situation, is a 2026 11-minute 2D animated special by Playground Productions and Lighthouse Studios, the first animated adaptation of the Backyard Sports games, following Stephanie Morgan's lost lucky bubble gum before Opening Day at Steele Stadium.
Backyard Surf Shop
Backyard Surf Shop is a Rip Curl brand store at Voorstraat 102, Egmond aan Zee, Netherlands, specializing in singlefin surfing; sells boards, wetsuits, and clothing, rents 8ft soft-tops, and was acquired by Jeffry Wesselingh of Beach & Waves in 2023.
Baclofen
Baclofen (Lioresal, FLEQSUVY, GABLOFEN) is a GABAB agonist muscle relaxant synthesized in 1962, FDA-approved in 1977 for spasticity from multiple sclerosis and spinal cord lesions, given orally or intrathecally, with boxed withdrawal warnings.
BACnet
BACnet, short for Building Automation and Control Network, is an open communication protocol for building automation published as ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 135 in 1995 and as ISO 16484-5 since 2003.
Baco Exu do Blues
Baco Exu do Blues, stage name of Diogo Álvaro Ferreira Moncorvo, is a Brazilian rapper from Salvador, Bahia, who broke through nationally with the 2017 album Esú.
Bacolod
Bacolod (City of Bacolod), the highly urbanized capital of Negros Occidental, Philippines, home of the MassKara Festival; chartered 1938, PhP 146.09 billion economy in 2023, 873,573 tourists in 2025.
Bacon
Bacon (培根) is cured, usually smoked pork, defined in the US as the cured belly of a swine carcass. Covers curing methods, nitrite limits, Chinese and regional variants, nutrition, and WHO Group 1 carcinogen classification.
Bacon Brothers (gangsters)
The Bacon brothers, Jonathan, Jarrod, and Jamie, were Abbotsford, British Columbia gangsters linked by police to the Red Scorpions; Jonathan was killed in Kelowna in 2011, Jarrod imprisoned for a cocaine conspiracy, and Jamie convicted in the Surrey Six murders.
Bacon-Shor code
The Bacon-Shor code is a quantum error-correcting subsystem code introduced by David Bacon in 2006 that encodes one logical qubit into a two-dimensional square lattice of qubits.
Bacon's cipher
Bacon's cipher, also called the Baconian cipher, is a steganographic method devised by Francis Bacon, hiding each letter as five A's and B's within two subtly different typefaces.