Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of or relating to mathematics.
  • adjective Precise; exact.
  • adjective Absolute; certain.
  • adjective Possible according to mathematics but highly improbable.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Of, pertaining to, or relating to mathematics; having to do with pure quantity; quantitative: as, mathematical knowledge; mathematical instruments; a mathematical theory.
  • According to the principles of mathematics; theoretically precise; absolutely accurate; strict; rigid; demonstrable: as, mathematical exactness; mathematical certainty.
  • Geometrical, as opposed to arithmetical and algebraical: an incorrect use, formerly current.
  • Astrological; magical.
  • Produced by mathematics, as pure figures and number.
  • Mathematics.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to mathematics; according to mathematics; hence, theoretically precise; accurate

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Of, or relating to mathematics
  • adjective Possible but highly improbable

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective beyond question
  • adjective statistically possible though highly improbable
  • adjective relating to or having ability to think in or work with numbers
  • adjective characterized by the exactness or precision of mathematics
  • adjective of or pertaining to or of the nature of mathematics

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Medieval Latin mathēmaticālis, from Latin mathēmaticus, from Greek mathēmatikos, from mathēma, mathēmat-, science, learning, from manthanein, math-, to learn; see mendh- in Indo-European roots.]

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Examples

  • Art as a mathematical formulaFor his project, Keren tackled the problem by essentially breaking visually stunning masterpieces into sets of mathematical  formulas.

    Teaching a Computer to Appreciate Art 2008

  • The difference between the ˜anthropological™ and the mathematical account is that in the first we are not tempted to speak of ˜mathematical facts,™ but rather that in this account the facts are never mathematical ones, never make mathematical propositions true or false.

    Wittgenstein's Philosophy of Mathematics Rodych, Victor 2007

  • MIKE HUCKABEE, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, Seth, the media loves to throw around the term mathematical and possibility.

    CNN Transcript Feb 24, 2008 2008

  • Regularity in habits was impossible to a student who had prolonged fits of what he called his mathematical trances.

    Great Astronomers 1876

  • The two principles above mentioned, which I called mathematical, in consideration of the fact of their authorizing the application of mathematic phenomena, relate to these phenomena only in regard to their possibility, and instruct us how phenomena, as far as regards their intuition or the real in their perception, can be generated according to the rules of a mathematical synthesis.

    The Critique of Pure Reason Immanuel Kant 1764

  • Hierarchy: in mathematical terms, it is a partially ordered set.

    A New Book 2010

  • The use of Peano arithmetic is fairly pervasive in mathematical physics, hence, at first sight, this appears to be highly damaging to the prospects for a final Theory of Everything in physics.

    Archive 2009-06-01 Gordon McCabe 2009

  • I cringe every time you think in mathematical terms.

    Matthew Yglesias » Michael Steele’s Bad Math 2009

  • Hierarchy: in mathematical terms, it is a partially ordered set.

    A New Book 2010

  • Hierarchy: in mathematical terms, it is a partially ordered set.

    A New Book 2010

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