arithmetic

Definition

The mathematics of numbers (integers, rational numbers, real numbers, or complex numbers) under the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

Etymology

From Middle English arsmetike, from Old French arismetique, from Latin arithmētica, from Ancient Greek ἀριθμητική (τέχνη) (arithmētikḗ (tékhnē), “(art of) counting”), feminine of ἀριθμητικός (arithmētikós, “arithmetical”), from ἀριθμός (arithmós, “number, counting”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ri-dʰh₁-mó-s, form of *h₂rey- (“to count, reason”). Used in English since 13th century.

Example Sentences

• "Note that all correctly rounding arithmetics satisfy property A1, as do those with properly truncating addition. All faithful binary arithmetics and all arithmetics with either properly truncating or correctly chopping addition satisfy property A2."
• "[The researchers] noticed many of their pieces of [plastic marine] debris sported surface pits around two microns across.[…]Closer examination showed that some of these pits did, indeed, contain bacteria, and that in several cases these bacteria were dividing and thus, by the perverse arithmetic of biological terminology, multiplying."