infinitesimal

Found in thesaurus: variable quantity, variable

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infinitesimal
adj. minute, very tiny; pertaining to infinitesimals (Mathematics)
 
n. variable with a limit of zero (Mathematics); minute quantity, very small amount

English Wikipedia - The Free EncyclopediaDownload this dictionary
Infinitesimal
In mathematics, infinitesimals are things so small that there is no way to measure them. The insight with exploiting infinitesimals was that entities could still retain certain specific properties, such as angle or slope, even though these entities were quantitatively small. The word infinitesimal comes from a 17th-century Modern Latin coinage infinitesimus, which originally referred to the "infinite-th" item in a sequence. It was originally introduced around 1670 by either Nicolaus Mercator or Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. Infinitesimals are a basic ingredient in the procedures of infinitesimal calculus as developed by Leibniz, including the law of continuity and the transcendental law of homogeneity. In common speech, an infinitesimal object is an object that is smaller than any feasible measurement, but not zero in size—or, so small that it cannot be distinguished from zero by any available means. Hence, when used as an adjective, "infinitesimal" means "extremely small". To give it a meaning, it usually must be compared to another infinitesimal object in the same context (as in a derivative). Infinitely many infinitesimals are summed to produce an integral.

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WordNet 2.0Download this dictionary
infinitesimal

Adjective
1. infinitely or immeasurably small; "two minute whiplike threads of protoplasm"; "reduced to a microscopic scale"
(synonym) minute, microscopic
(similar) small, little


Babylon German-EnglishDownload this dictionary
infinitesimal
adv. infinitesimally, in an infinitesimal manner, minutely
 
adj. infinitesimal, minute, very tiny; (Mathematics) pertaining to infinitesimals

Babylon French-EnglishDownload this dictionary
infinitésimal
adj. infinitesimal, minute, very tiny; pertaining to infinitesimals (Mathematics)