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mathematics

(Encyclopedia)mathematics, deductive study of numbers, geometry, and various abstract constructs, or structures; the latter often abstract the features common to several models derived from the empirical, or applie...

Gödel, Kurt

(Encyclopedia)Gödel, Kurt gö´dl [key], 1906–78, American mathematician and logician, b. Brünn (now Brno, Czech Republic), grad. Univ. of Vienna (Ph.D., 1930). He came to the United States in 1940 and was na...

proof

(Encyclopedia)proof, in mathematics, finite sequence of propositions each of which is either an axiom or follows from preceding propositions by one of the rules of logical inference (see symbolic logic). Mathematic...

Hopkins, William

(Encyclopedia)Hopkins, William, 1793–1866, English geologist. Hopkins studied mathematics at Cambridge, and then supported himself as a private mathematics tutor. Many of England's best mathematicians and mathema...

combinations

(Encyclopedia)combinations, in mathematics: see probability.

chance

(Encyclopedia)chance, in mathematics: see probability.

power

(Encyclopedia)power, in mathematics: see exponent.

Tartaglia, Niccolò

(Encyclopedia)Tartaglia, Niccolò nk-klô´ tärtä´lyä [key], c.1500–1557, Italian engineer and mathematician. Largely self-educated, he taught mathematics at Verona, Brescia, and Venice. A pioneer in appl...

Kircher, Athanasius

(Encyclopedia)Kircher, Athanasius ätänä´zoos krkh´r [key], 1601?–1680, German Jesuit archaeologist, mathematician, biologist, philologist, astronomer, musicologist, and physicist. One of the world's ...

combinatorics

(Encyclopedia)combinatorics kmbntôr´ks [key] or combinatorial analysiskmbntôr´l [key], sometimes called the science of counting, the branch of mathematics concerned with the selection, arr...