| | - algebraic function
- (from the article "algebra, elementary") Any of the quantities mentioned so far may be combined in expressions according to the usual arithmetic operations of addition, subtraction, and multiplication. Thus, ax + by and axx + bx + c are common algebraic expressions. However, exponential notation is commonly used to avoid repeating the...definition
- algebraic geometry
- study of the geometric properties of solutions to polynomial equations, including solutions in dimensions beyond three. (Solutions in two and three dimensions are first covered in plane and solid analytic geometry, respectively.) [5 Related Articles]
- algebraic integer
- (from the article "mathematics") ...1910. The theory of rings (structures in which it is possible to add, subtract, and multiply but not necessarily divide) was much harder to formalize. It is important for two reasons: the theory of algebraic integers forms part of it, because algebraic integers naturally form into rings; and (as Kronecker ...
- algebraic linguistics
- (from the article "linguistics") ...of texts and the construction of mathematical models of the phonological and grammatical structure of languages. These two branches of mathematical linguistics, which may be termed statistical and algebraic linguistics, respectively, are typically distinct. Attempts have been made to derive the grammatical rules of languages from the statistical structure of ...
- algebraic map
- (from the article "celestial mechanics") In numerical calculations for conservative systems with modest values of n over long time spans, such as those seeking a determination of the stability of the solar system, the direct solution of the differential equations governing the motions requires excessive time on any computer and accumulates excessive round-off error in ...
- algebraic notation
- (from the article "chess") Individual moves and entire games can be recorded using one of several forms of notation. By far the most widely used form, algebraic (or coordinate) notation, identifies each square from the point of view of the player with the light-coloured pieces, called White. The eight ranks are numbered 1 through ...
- algebraic number
- real number for which there exists a polynomial equation with integer coefficients such that the given real number is a solution. Algebraic numbers include all of the natural numbers, all rational numbers, some irrational numbers, and complex numbers of the form pi + q, where [7 Related Articles]
- algebraic quantity
- (from the article "algebra, elementary") The principal distinguishing characteristic of algebra is the use of simple symbols to represent numerical quantities and mathematical operations. Following a system that originated with the 17th-century French thinker Rene Descartes, letters near the beginning of the alphabet (a, b, c,&elipsis;) typically represent known, but arbitrary, numbers in a...
- algebraic structure
- (from the article "mathematics") The interest in axiomatic systems at the turn of the century led to axiom systems for the known algebraic structures, that for the theory of fields, for example, being developed by the German mathematician Ernst Steinitz in 1910. The theory of rings (structures in which it is possible to add, ...
- Algeciras
- port city, Cadiz provincia (province), in the comunidad autonoma (autonomous community) of Andalusia, in extreme southern Spain, across the Bay of Gibraltar from Gibraltar. [1 Related Articles]
- Algeciras Conference
- (Jan. 16-April 7, 1906), international conference of the great European powers and the United States, held at Algeciras, Spain, to discuss France's relationship to the government of Morocco. The conference climaxed the First Moroccan Crisis (see Moroccan crises). [9 Related Articles]
- Algeciras, Act of
- (from the article "Algeciras Conference") ...only Austria-Hungary supported Germany's views; Italy, Russia, and, more significantly, Britain and the United States lined up behind France. On the surface, nevertheless, the convention, the Act of Algeciras, signed on April 7, 1906, appeared to limit French penetration. It reaffirmed the independence of the sultan and the economic equality ...
- Algenib
- (from the article "astronomical map") The Al that begins numerous star names indicates their Arabic origin, al being the Arabic definite article "the": Aldebaran ("the Follower"), Algenib ("the Side"), Alhague ("the Serpent Bearer"), and Algol ("the Demon"). A conspicuous exception is Albireo in Cygnus, possibly a corruption of the words ab ireo in the...spectral classification
- Alger hero
- (from the article "Alger, Horatio") The success of Ragged Dick led Alger to actively support charitable institutions for the support of foundlings and runaway boys. It was in this atmosphere that Alger wrote stories of boys who rose from poverty to wealth and fame, stories that were to make him famous and contribute the "Alger ...
- Alger Of Liege
- Flemish priest famed in his day for his learning and writings. [1 Related Articles]
- Alger, Horatio
- one of the most popular American authors in the last 30 years of the 19th century and perhaps the most socially influential American writer of his generation. [1 Related Articles]
- Algeria
- large, predominantly Muslim country of North Africa. From the Mediterranean coast, along which most of its people live, Algeria extends southward deep into the heart of the Sahara, a forbidding desert where the Earth's hottest surface temperatures have been recorded and which constitutes more than four-fifths of the country's area. ... [31 Related Articles]
- Algeria, flag of
- vertically striped green-white national flag with a central red star and crescent. Its width-to-length ratio is 2 to 3.
- Algeria, history of
- (from the article "Algeria") This discussion focuses on Algeria from the 19th century onward. For a treatment of earlier periods and of the country in its regional context, see North Africa.
African Cup of NationsAfrican Cup of Nations...winning the 1996 tournament at home, South Africa's ...
- Algerian Basin
- (from the article "Mediterranean Sea") ...western and eastern parts. The western part in turn is subdivided into three principal submarine basins. The Alboran Basin is east of Gibraltar, between the coasts of Spain and Morocco. The Algerian (sometimes called the Algero-Provencal or Balearic) Basin, east of the Alboran Basin, is west of Sardinia and Corsica, ...
- Algerian cuisine
- (from the article "Algeria") Algerian cuisine, like that of most North African countries, is heavily influenced by Arab, Amazigh, Turkish, and French culinary traditions. Couscous, a semolina-based pasta customarily served with a meat and vegetable stew, is the traditional staple. Although Western-style dishes, such as pizza and other fast foods, are popular and Algeria ...
- Algerian General Workers' Union
- (from the article "Algeria") ...The president promised that by the end of his term one million new homes would be built and a vast expansion in employment would occur. After agreement with the trade union confederation (the Algerian General Workers' Union), the government was poised to launch a privatization program that would affect all ...
- Algerian literature
- (from the article "Algeria") Algeria has produced many important writers. Some, such as the Noble Prize winner Albert Camus and his contemporary Jean Senac, were French, although their work was influenced by the many years they spent in Algeria. The writing of Henri Krea reflects the two worlds he inhabited as the son of ...
- Algerian Manifesto
- (from the article "Algeria") Ferhat Abbas drafted an Algerian Manifesto in December 1942 for presentation to Allied as well as French authorities; it sought recognition of political autonomy for Algeria. General Charles de Gaulle declared a year later that France was under an obligation to the Muslims of North Africa because of the loyalty ...
- Algerian music
- (from the article "Algeria") Various types of music are native to Algeria. One of the most popular, originating in the western part of the country, is rai (from Arabic ra'y, meaning "opinion" or "view"), which combines varying instrumentation with simple poetic lyrics. Both men and women are free ...
- Algerian Muslim Ulama, Association of
- a body of Muslim religious scholars ('ulama') who, under French rule, advocated the restoration of an Algerian nation rooted in Islamic and Arabic traditions. [1 Related Articles]
- Algerian Popular Party
- (from the article "Messali Hadj, Ahmed") ...Nord-Africaine (North African Star), was dissolved by the French in 1929 after he called for revolt against their colonial rule. In the mid-1930s he founded the Parti Populaire Algerien (PPA; Algerian Popular Party), which was suppressed only to reemerge in 1946 as the Mouvement pour le Triomphe des Libertes Democratiques ...
- Algerian War of Independence
- (from the article "Algeria") Nationalist parties had existed for many years, but they became increasingly radical as they realized that their goals were not going to be achieved through peaceful means. Prior to World War II the Party of the Algerian People (Parti du Peuple Algerien) had been founded by Messali Hadj. The party ...
- Alghero
- town and episcopal see, northwestern Sardinia, Italy, southwest of Sassari city. It was founded in 1102 by the Doria family of Genoa and became a Catalan colony under Peter IV of Aragon in 1354. Emperor Charles V took up residence there in 1541. It is the only Italian town where ...
- Algiers
- capital and chief seaport of Algeria. It is the political, economic, and cultural centre of the country. [12 Related Articles]
- Algiers Agreement
- (from the article "Iraq") ...improve. The young vice president realized that the country's near total isolation was threatening the regime's hold on power. The crucial turnaround took place in 1975 when Iraq and Iran signed the Algiers Agreement, in which Iraq agreed to move the maritime boundary between the two countries to the thalweg-conditioned ...
- Algiers, Bay of
- (from the article "Algiers") Algiers is built on the slopes of the Sahel Hills, which parallel the coast, and it extends for 10 miles (16 km) along the Bay of Algiers. The city faces east and north and forms a large amphitheatre of dazzling white buildings that dominate the harbour and the bay. The ...
- algin
- (from the article "kelp") ...of brown algae. Until early in the 19th century the ash of such seaweeds was an important source of potash and iodine. Giant kelps, of the genus Macrocystis, are rich in minerals and produce algin, a complex carbohydrate (polysaccharide) useful in various industrial processes, including tire manufacture. Algin is added ...
- alginate
- (from the article "algae") The cell walls of many seaweeds contain phycocolloids (algal colloids) that can be extracted by hot water. The three major phycocolloids are alginates, agars, and carrageenans. Alginates are extracted primarily from brown seaweeds, and agar and carrageenan are extracted from red seaweeds. These phycocolloids are polymers of chemically modified sugar ...
- Algirdas
- grand duke of Lithuania from 1345 to 1377, who made Lithuania one of the largest European states of his day. His son Jogaila became Wladyslaw II Jagiello, king of united Poland and Lithuania. [5 Related Articles]
- Algodones Dunes
- (from the article "North American Desert") ...blackened and wind-scoured, with magnificent buttes, mesas, and other isolated mountain remnants rising high above the flat landscape. Stretches of shifting sands known as ergs-the extensive Algodones Dunes of the Colorado-Yuma desert are a notable example-are found at lower elevations, with the shallow troughs of arroyos carrying intermittent streams from ...
- algodonite
- (from the article "domeykite") a copper arsenide mineral (formulated Cu3As) that is often intergrown with algodonite, another copper arsenide. Both are classified among the sulfide minerals, although they contain no sulfur. They occur in Chile, in Keweenaw County, Mich., and in other localities. Domeykite crystallizes in the isometric system. For detailed physical properties, see ...
- ALGOL
- (from the article "computer programming language") ALGOL (algorithmic language) was designed by a committee of American and European computer scientists during 1958-60 for publishing algorithms, as well as for doing computations. Like LISP (described in the next section), ALGOL had recursive subprograms-procedures that could invoke themselves to solve a problem by reducing it to a smaller ...
- Algol
- prototype of a class of variable stars called eclipsing binaries, the second brightest star in the northern constellation Perseus. Its apparent visual magnitude changes over the range of (approximately) 2.2 to 3.5 with a period of 2.87 days. Even at its dimmest it remains readily visible to the unaided eye. ... [6 Related Articles]
- Algoma-type banded-iron formation deposit
- (from the article "mineral deposit") A second kind of BIF, known as an Algoma type, formed over a much wider time range than the Lake Superior type (from 3.8 billion to a few hundred million years ago). Algoma-type BIFs are also finely layered intercalations of silica and an iron mineral, generally hematite or magnetite, but ...
- Algonquian languages
- North American Indian language family whose member languages are or were spoken in Canada, New England, the Atlantic coastal region southward to North Carolina, and the Great Lakes region and surrounding areas westward to the Rocky Mountains. Among the numerous Algonquian languages are Cree, Ojibwa, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Mi'kmaq (Micmac), Arapaho, ... [3 Related Articles]
- Algonquin
- North American Indian tribe of closely related Algonquian-speaking bands originally living in the dense forest regions of the valley of the Ottawa River and its tributaries in present-day Quebec and Ontario, Can. The tribe should be differentiated from the Algonquian language family, as the latter term refers to a much ... [12 Related Articles]
- Algonquin language
- (from the article "Algonquian languages") ...and surrounding areas westward to the Rocky Mountains. Among the numerous Algonquian languages are Cree, Ojibwa, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Mi'kmaq (Micmac), Arapaho, and Fox-Sauk-Kickapoo. The term Algonquin (often spelled this way to differentiate it from the family) refers to a dialect of Ojibwa. Algonquian languages have been classified by some scholars ...
- Algonquin Provincial Park
- wilderness area, southeastern Ontario, Canada. It lies about 140 miles (225 km) northeast of Toronto and covers an area of 2,955 square miles (7,653 square km). Established in 1893, the park, once a lumbering area, is a hilly wildlife refuge for bears, beaver, deer, moose, and smaller game. It straddles ...
- Algonquin Round Table
- informal group of American literary men and women who met daily for lunch on weekdays at a large round table in the Algonquin Hotel in New York City during the 1920s and '30s. The Algonquin Round Table began meeting in 1919, and within a few years its participants included many ... [5 Related Articles]
- Algonquin, Lake
- large glacial lake that once existed in North America and covered most of the area now occupied by three Great Lakes (Superior, Michigan, and Huron). Lake Algonquin was present in the Pleistocene Epoch (approximately 1.8 million to 11,800 years ago), a geologic glacial period when the Laurentide Ice Sheet was ... [1 Related Articles]
- algorismus
- (from the article "mathematics") ...in the West. Particularly important were Euclid's Elements, the works of Archimedes, and al-Khwarizmi's treatises on arithmetic and algebra. Western texts called algorismus (a Latin form of the name al-Khwarizmi) introduced the Hindu-Arabic numerals and applied them in calculations. Thus, modern numerals first came into use in universities...
- algorithm
- systematic procedure that produces-in a finite number of steps-the answer to a question or the solution of a problem. The name derives from the Latin translation, Algoritmi de numero Indorum, of the 9th-century Muslim mathematician al-Khwarizmi's arithmetic treatise "Al-Khwarizmi Concerning the Hindu Art of Reckoning." [15 Related Articles]
- algorithmic information theory
- (from the article "information theory") ...publish an objective measure of the intrinsic complexity of a message. Chaitin, a research scientist at IBM, developed the largest body of work and polished the ideas into a formal theory known as algorithmic information theory (AIT). The algorithmic in AIT comes from defining the complexity of ...
- Algren, Nelson
- writer whose novels of the poor are lifted from routine naturalism by his vision of their pride, humour, and unquenchable yearnings. He also catches with poetic skill the mood of the city's underside: its jukebox pounding, stench, and neon glare. [1 Related Articles]
- alguacile
- (from the article "bullfighting") ...named after famous matadors. The spectacle begins with a trumpeter blowing a fanfare and the opening of a large gate at one end of the arena. One or two mounted bailiffs (alguaciles) in 16th-century costume (sometimes cowboy costume in Mexico) with plumed hats ride across the ring ...
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