Construct an angle that is one fourth the measure

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Formally, a string is a finite, ordered sequence of characters such as letters, digits or spaces. The empty string is the special case where the sequence has length zero, so there are no symbols in the string. There is only one empty string, because two strings are only different if they have different lengths or a different sequence of symbols. In formal treatments,[1] the empty string is denoted with ε or sometimes Λ or λ.

The empty string should not be confused with the empty language ∅, which is a formal language (i.e. a set of strings) that contains no strings, not even the empty string.

The empty string has several properties:

In context-free grammars, a production rule that allows a symbol to produce the empty string is known as an ε-production, and the symbol is said to be "nullable".

Use in programming languages[edit]

In most programming languages, strings are a data type. Strings are typically stored at distinct memory addresses (locations). Thus, the same string (for example, the empty string) may be stored in two or more places in memory.

In this way, there could be multiple empty strings in memory, in contrast with the formal theory definition, for which there is only one possible empty string. However, a string comparison function would indicate that all of these empty strings are equal to each other.

Even a string of length zero can require memory to store it, depending on the format being used. In most programming languages, the empty string is distinct from a null reference (or null pointer) because a null reference points to no string at all, not even the empty string. The empty string is a legitimate string, upon which most string operations should work. Some languages treat some or all of the following in similar ways: empty strings, null references, the integer 0, the floating point number 0, the Boolean value false, the ASCII character NUL, or other such values.

The empty string is usually represented similarly to other strings. In implementations with string terminating character (null-terminated strings or plain text lines), the empty string is indicated by the immediate use of this terminating character.

Examples of empty strings[edit]

The empty string is a syntactically valid representation of zero in positional notation (in any base), which does not contain leading zeros. Since the empty string does not have a standard visual representation outside of formal language theory, the number zero is traditionally represented by a single decimal digit 0 instead.

Zero-filled memory area, interpreted as a null-terminated string, is an empty string.

Empty lines of text show the empty string. This can occur from two consecutive EOLs, as often occur in text files, and this is sometimes used in text processing to separate paragraphs, e.g. in MediaWiki.

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The number of American households that were unbanked last year dropped to its lowest level since 2009, a dip due in part to people opening accounts to receive financial assistance during the pandemic, a new report says.  

Roughly 4.5% of U.S. households – or 5.9 million – didn't have a checking or savings account with a bank or credit union in 2021, a record low, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's most recent survey of unbanked and underbanked households. 

Roughly 45% of households that received a stimulus payment, jobless benefits or other government assistance after the start of the pandemic in March, 2020 said those funds helped compel them to open an account, according to the biennial report which has been conducted since 2009.

"Safe and affordable bank accounts provide a way to bring more Americans into the banking system and will continue to play an important role in advancing economic inclusion for all Americans,'' FDIC acting chairman Martin J. Gruenberg said in a statement.  

A lack of banking options delayed some households from getting federal payments aimed at helping the country weather the economic fallout from the COVID-19 health crisis.

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Checks arrived late for some of the unbanked:For 'unbanked' Americans, pandemic stimulus checks arrived slowly and with higher fees. But that could change.

The FDIC initiated an educational campaign to get more Americans to open an account to enable the direct deposit of those funds. And banks such as Capital One and Ally Financial ended  overdraft and other fees that have been a key barrier to some Americans accessing the banking system. 

What does it mean to be unbanked?

A household is deemed unbanked when no one in the home has an account with a bank or credit union. That share of households has dropped by nearly half since 2009. And since 2011, when 8% of U.S. households were unbanked, the highest since the start of the survey, and the record low reached in 2021, roughly half of the drop was due to a shift in the financial circumstances of American households the FDIC says.

Who are the underbanked?

Those who have a checking or savings account, but also use financial alternatives like check cashing services are considered underbanked. The underbanked represented 14% of U.S. households, or 18.7 million, last year.   

Why are people unbanked or underbanked?

Many of those who are unbanked say they can't afford to have an account because of the fees for insufficient funds and overdrafts that are tacked on when account balances fall short. Roughly 29% said fees or not having the required minimum balance were the primary reasons they didn't have a checking or savings account, as compared to 38% who cited those obstacles in 2019.

Are some groups more likely to be unbanked? 

The numbers of the unbanked were greater among households that included those who were working age and disabled, lower income, included a single mother, or were Black or Hispanic. Among white households for instance, 2% didn't have a bank account last year as compared to 11% and 9% of their Black and Hispanic counterparts.

Meanwhile, nearly 15% of households with a working age member who had a disability were unbanked compared to almost 4% of other households. And  nearly 16% of households with a single mother were unbanked as compared to about 2% of married couples who lacked an account. 

 "These gaps attest there's still a lot of opportunity to expand participation across the population in the banking system,'' Keith Ernst, Associate Director of Consumer Research and Examination Analytics at the FDIC, said during a media call about the report.            

Will the number of unbanked rise if the U.S. has a recession? 

Perhaps.

"During the last recession unbanked rates did indeed go up,'' Karyen Chu, chief of the Banking Research Section at the Center for Financial Research, said during the call. 

Additionally, last year, homes where the head of household was out of work were nearly five times more likely to not have a bank account as compared to those where the household head was employed.

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"To the extent that income goes down ... that has generally been associated with increases in unbanked rates,’’ Chu said. 

Which angle measures 1/4 of a circle?

Is it possible to construct an angle with 1 4 the measure of a given angle?

What is the measure of ∠ 4?