In politics, representation describes how some individuals act on behalf of others, or a group, for a given period of time. Representation typically refers to representative democracies elected officials speak for their constituents in the legislature.

Generally, only citizens are guaranteed representation in government in the form of the right to vote . However, some democracies have expanded this right even further.

In many historical and social science texts, the term "representation" seems to occupy the center of a constellation of very varied notions or concepts such as imaginary(ies), ideology(ies), myth(s), mythology(ies), utopia(s), and memory(ies). Furthermore, the recent expansion of cultural history has popularized the term "representations" among historians, although this promotion of the notion of "representation" to a key position in historiography has not been accompanied by a deeper reflection on its many meanings. We will explore this concept further, relating it to the visual arts and to the studies of Ernst H. Gombrich, which certainly contribute to the debate.

Representation – the word, the idea, the thing. Sandra Makowiecky

Types of representation

In the fields of science and technology, there are five types of representation:

Representation theory, Representation (computer science), Knowledge representation, Mental representation, Social representations.

Let's then describe each type individually.

Representation theory

Representation theory is a field of mathematics that studies abstract algebraic structures by representing their elements as linear transformations of vector spaces.

Representation (computer science)

The act of representing given information obtained through abstraction.

Representation is linked to a common-sense approach for the systems analyst responsible for showing tangible facts that refer to the system in question, therefore having a more or less defined scope. From this concept, we can form a set of models, which are the application domain

Knowledge representation

Knowledge Representation is a subfield of research in artificial intelligence.

Research in the field of knowledge representation attempts to answer several questions such as:

• How do we represent our knowledge?
• Do all people represent knowledge in the same way?
• Is there any way to represent anything?
• How should intelligent programs represent knowledge?

In theory, a general representation like first-order logic would be expressive enough to represent any type of knowledge.

However, problems of efficiency, ease of use, and the need to express uncertain and incomplete knowledge led to the development of various types of knowledge representation formalisms, such as logic, frame systems, and semantic networks.

Mental representation

In philosophy of mind, cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and cognitive science, a mental representation (or cognitive representation; or psychic representation) is a hypothetical internal cognitive symbol that represents external reality, or a mental process that makes use of a symbol; "a formal system for making explicit certain entities or types of information, along with a specification of how the system does this."

Despite its widespread use in various models that take the individual as their basic unit, there are epistemic limitations concerning its application.

Social representations

Social representations are the set of knowledge, opinions, and images that allow us to evoke a given event, person, or object. These representations result from social interaction and are therefore common to a particular group of individuals.