Is a RDF Triple a RDF Statement?
rdf, semantic-web
Solution
Yes, in RDF, a statement is basically the same as a triple (or 3-tuple).
However, there's another concept called the stating of a statement, in case of which you have to take into consideration the fact that a triple can be stated by different entities (as in people/organizations, not XML entities). In such context, a triple (subject, predicate, object) is not unique and should be described differently, depending on who states it.
The whole subject is somewhat mind-boggling. I recommend reading this summary of a thread from the RDF Interest mailing list (bring a snack). It boils down to the semantic description of RDF itself.
To sum up, it all depends on what you mean by triple. Whether it's an abstract notion or an actual stating of it. If it's the first case, I think it's safe to assume that triple and statement are interchangeable. And most of the time, when using RDF, it IS the first case.
Problem
As the subject of the question asks, are the 2 the same thing? Are they interchangeble? If not, please explain the differences or provide clarification with an example.