Technology and the built world

Learning from Las Vegas

Learning from Las Vegas is a 1972 book by Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown, and Steven Izenour studying the Las Vegas Strip's commercial architecture and signage.

Learning management system

A learning management system (LMS), also known as a virtual learning environment or course management system, is web-based software for administering online courses, assessments, and training.

Learning to Prompt

Learning to Prompt (L2P) is a continual learning method that trains a frozen pre-trained model on sequential tasks via a learnable prompt pool, introduced in a 2022 CVPR paper.

Learning to rank

Learning to rank, also called machine-learned ranking or learn to rank, is the machine learning task of building a model that sorts documents by their relevance to a query.

Learning vector quantization

Learning vector quantization (LVQ) is a supervised, prototype-based classification algorithm, introduced by Teuvo Kohonen, that assigns each input the label of its nearest prototype vector.

Learning with errors problem

The learning with errors (LWE) problem asks one to recover a secret vector from noisy linear equations modulo an integer, and serves as the central hardness assumption for lattice-based cryptography.

Learning without Forgetting

Learning without Forgetting is a 2016 continual learning method by Zhizhong Li and Derek Hoiem that trains a neural network on new tasks without forgetting old ones.

Learning-based model predictive control

Learning-based model predictive control (LBMPC) combines model predictive control with machine learning that improves the controller from data; applications include autonomous racing, quadrotor flight, and building climate control.

Leased line

A leased line, also known as a dedicated or private circuit, is a dedicated, symmetric telecommunications circuit reserved for a single customer between two fixed locations.

Leash

A leash, called a lead in British English, is a line of leather, rope, or chain used to hold and control an animal, most often a dog.

Least frequently used (cache algorithm)

Least frequently used (LFU) is a cache replacement algorithm that evicts the entry with the lowest access count, used in operating systems, caching libraries, and web proxies.

Least mean squares algorithm

The least mean squares algorithm, introduced by Widrow and Hoff in 1960, is an adaptive filtering method that minimizes mean squared error via stochastic gradient descent.

Least mean squares filter

The least mean squares filter is an adaptive filtering algorithm that adjusts filter weights by stochastic gradient to minimize error, used by the million in echo cancellers and equalizers.

Least-squares channel estimation

Least-squares channel estimation is a method in which a wireless receiver fits known transmitted pilot symbols to received measurements, minimizing squared error; it is simpler than MMSE but noisier.

Least-squares support-vector machine

A least-squares support-vector machine (LS-SVM) is a reformulation of the support-vector machine that replaces the hinge loss with squared error, so training reduces to solving a linear system.

Least-to-most prompting

Least-to-most prompting is a prompting method for large language models that decomposes a complex problem into subproblems and solves them sequentially, introduced by Zhou et al. in 2022.

Leather

Leather is animal hide or skin converted by tanning into a stable, long-lasting material that keeps its fibrous structure, made mainly from cattle, sheep, and goats.

Leatherman

Leatherman is an American brand of pliers-based multi-tools made by the Leatherman Tool Group, founded in Portland, Oregon in 1983, which originated the folding multi-tool category with its PST.

LEAV Aviation

LEAV Aviation is a German charter and ACMI airline headquartered in Cologne, founded in 2020, which operates Airbus A320-200 aircraft on wet-lease contracts and scheduled leisure flights under the IATA code KK.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

"Leaving on a Jet Plane" is a 1966 John Denver folk song that became the folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary's only number-one hit in 1969.

Lebăda Est Oil and Gas Field

Lebăda Est, also known as Lebada East, is an operating oil and gas field on Romania's Black Sea shelf, operated by OMV Petrom, with production since 1987.

Lebăda Vest Oil and Gas Field

Lebăda Vest (Romanian for West Swan) is an offshore oil and gas field in the Romanian Black Sea, about 95 km from Constanța, operated by OMV Petrom since 1993.

Oct 22, 2026

Lebedev process

The Lebedev process is a one-step industrial method for making butadiene from ethanol, developed by Russian chemist Sergey Lebedev and used for synthetic rubber from the 1930s.

Lebel Model 1886 rifle

The Lebel Model 1886 rifle, or Fusil Lebel, is the French 8 mm bolt-action rifle adopted in 1887, the first military rifle to use smokeless powder.

Leclanché (company)

Leclanché SA is a Swiss lithium-ion battery manufacturer founded in Yverdon-les-Bains in 1909, making cells, modules, and energy-storage systems for marine, rail, and grid uses.

Leclanché cell

The Leclanché cell is a non-rechargeable wet battery invented by French engineer Georges Leclanché in 1866, and the ancestor of the zinc–carbon dry cell used in telegraphy and electric bells.

Leclerc Evolution

The Leclerc Evolution is a main battle tank concept by KNDS, unveiled at Eurosatory 2024 as an upgraded Leclerc with a new turret and ASCALON 120 mm gun.

Leclerc tank

The Leclerc (AMX-56) is a French third-generation main battle tank named for General Philippe Leclerc, armed with a 120 mm gun and in French service since 1992.

Lectra

Lectra is a French technology company headquartered in Paris, founded in 1973 in Bordeaux, that develops industrial software, CAD/CAM solutions, and automated cutting equipment for fashion, automotive, and furniture.