mathematics meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

mathematics

noun

UK /mæθ(.ə)ˈmæt.ɪks/ · CA, US /mæθ(.ə)ˈmæt.ɪks/

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.

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

Next to Mathematics, the study of natural philosophy tends to have anti-aphrodisiac effects.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 163:
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 1500.1992 March 2, Richard Preston, “The Mountains of Pi”, in The New Yorker:

1 more example

The answer is 'yes', and the mathematics needed is the theory of probability and its applied cousin, statistics.2002, Ian Stewart, Does God Play Dice?: The New Mathematics of Chaos, page 38:

A person's ability to count, calculate, and use different systems of mathematics at differing levels.

My mathematics is always improving.

Synonyms: numeracy, maths, math, mathematics
Derived terms: applied mathematics, astromathematics, biomathematics, discrete mathematics, ethnomathematics, fuzzy mathematics, geomathematics, iatromathematics, math, mathematese, mathlete, maths, metamathematics, physicomathematics, pseudomathematics, pure mathematics, recreational mathematics, reform mathematics, reverse mathematics
Related terms: 44 terms
mathematical, mathematically, mathematician, mathematicist, polymath, set, relation, function, operation, mapping, definition, axiom, theorem, lemma, proposition, conjecture, proof, number, point, shape, polygon, triangle, angle, vector, vector space, metric, graph, node, edge, probability distribution, integral, derivation, state, define, prove, reduce, count, add, subtract, multiply, divide, exponentiate, :Category:Mathematics, T:arithmetic operations
Hypernyms: study
Meronyms: applied mathematics, pure mathematics, arithmetic, geometry, analysis, combinatorics, algebra, number theory, topology, set theory, calculus, category theory