Could some kind soul explain how "reverse complement" works? Is is not the same as "reverse? -- ie, is NOT one word or the other redundant?
Update: Has been explained! See below and the replies from BrowserUK and kcott

And if that's a bit fuzzy around the edges (yeah, it is, IMO), code to illustrate why I'm puzzled with OP's use of the phrase "reverse complement" and its adoption by others:

#!/usr/bin/perl
use 5.016;
use warnings;

# 1075463

my $seq="ACGGGAGGACGGGAAAATTACTACGGCATTAGC";
say "Initial \$seq is: $seq";

say "Reverse sequence is: " . reverse($seq);


my @seq = split(/\b/, $seq);
my $comp; 
while (@seq) {
    $comp .= pop(@seq);
}
print "Complement is: $comp\n";

my $reverse = reverse($comp);
print "Reverse complement is:$reverse\n";


=head  OUTPUT:

Initial $seq is: ACGGGAGGACGGGAAAATTACTACGGCATTAGC
Reverse sequence is: CGATTACGGCATCATTAAAAGGGCAGGAGGGCA
Complement is: ACGGGAGGACGGGAAAATTACTACGGCATTAGC       # per OP's use,
+ I think
Reverse complement is:CGATTACGGCATCATTAAAAGGGCAGGAGGGCA

=cut

[download]

On-line dictionaries tend to mention the mathematics use only in geometric terms. Is my understanding that the OP's phrase would be better written and less ambiguous using just one of its two terms?

Update:

/me headslaps! Duh! Ignored the "double helix" fundamental! Thanks, obeisances and + +s to both BrowserUK and kcott.

Come, let us reason together: Spirit of the Monastery

In reply to Re: Create the reverse complement (OT: meaning / use of "reverse complement") by ww
in thread Create the reverse complement DNA sequence without pattern matching and reverse built-in function? by Anonymous Monk

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