Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

multiplication

(Encyclopedia)multiplication, fundamental operation in arithmetic and algebra. Multiplication by a whole number can be interpreted as successive addition. For example, a number N multiplied by 3 is N + N + N. In ge...

apocalypse

(Encyclopedia)apocalypse əpŏkˈəlĭps [key] [Gr.,=uncovering], genre represented in early Jewish and in Christian literature in which the secrets of the heavenly world or of the world to come are revealed by ang...

Challoner, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Challoner, Richard chălˈənər [key], 1691–1781, English Roman Catholic prelate. Brought up a Protestant, he became a Roman Catholic in his teens and was ordained in 1716. In 1730 he returned from...

Euler, Leonhard

(Encyclopedia)Euler, Leonhard lāˈônhärt oiˈlər [key], 1707–83, Swiss mathematician. Born and educated at Basel, where he knew the Bernoullis, he went to St. Petersburg (1727) at the invitation of Catherine ...

von Sydow, Max

(Encyclopedia)von Sydow, Max, 1929–2020, Swedish actor, b. Carl Adolf von Sydow. He worked with director Ingmar Bergman at the Malmö Municipal Theatre (1955–60) before moving to Stockhom and joining the Royal ...

Wynette, Tammy

(Encyclopedia)Wynette, Tammy wīnĕtˈ [key], 1942–98, American singer and songwriter, often called “th...

standard of living

(Encyclopedia)standard of living, level of consumption that an individual, group, or nation has achieved. The evaluation of a standard of living is relative, depending upon the judgment of the observer as to what c...

switch

(Encyclopedia)switch, electrical device having two states: on, or closed; and off, or open. Ideally a switch offers a zero impedance to a current when it is closed, and it offers infinite impedance when open. Mecha...

Le Bon, Gustave

(Encyclopedia)Le Bon, Gustave güstävˈ lə bôN [key], 1841–1931, French psychologist and sociologist. He was the author of a number of works on social psychology, in which he expounded theories of national tra...

Arnhem Land

(Encyclopedia)Arnhem Land, 37,100 sq mi (96,089 sq km), N Northern Territory, Australia, on a wide peninsula W of the Gulf of Carpentaria. The great majority of the region belongs to the Arnhem Land Aboriginal Rese...