mathematics

Definition

An abstract representational system studying numbers, shapes, structures, quantitative change and relationships between them.

Etymology

1580s; From mathematic (noun) + -ics, from Middle English mathematique, methametik, matematik, matamatik, from Old French mathematique, from Latin mathēmatica (“mathematics”), from Ancient Greek μαθηματικός (mathēmatikós, “on the matter of that which is learned”), from μάθημα (máthēma, “knowledge, study, learning”). Displaced native Old English rīmcræft.

Example Sentences

• "Next to Mathematics, the study of natural philosophy tends to have anti-aphrodisiac effects."
• "Looking at the Leibniz series, you feel the independence of mathematics from human culture. Surely, on any world that knows pi the Leibniz series will also be known... Nilakantha, an astronomer, grammarian, and mathematician who lived on the Kerala coast of India, described the formula in Sanskrit poetry around the year 1500."
• "The answer is 'yes', and the mathematics needed is the theory of probability and its applied cousin, statistics."

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