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supposition involves an absurdity (reductio ad absurdum), or an impossibility; thus, one quantity may be proved equal to another by showing that it can be neither greater nor less. -- Indirect discourse. (Gram.) See Direct discourse, under Direct. -- Indirect evidence, evidence or testimony which is circumstantial o…

Not capable of exact division, as one quantity by another; incommensurable.

Greater than any assignable quantity of the same kind; -- said of certain quantities.

or limits; beyond or below assignable limits; as, an infinitely large or infinitely small quantity.

Infinitely or indefinitely small; less than any assignable quantity or value; very small. Infinitesimal calculus, the different and the integral calculus, when developed according to the method used by Leibnitz, who regarded the increments given to variables as infinitesimal.

Unlimited extent of time, space, or quantity; eternity; boundlessness; immensity. Sir T. More. There can not be more infinities than one; for one of them would limit the other. Sir W. Raleigh.

To swallow, devour, or drink greedily or in large quantity; to guzzle. Cleveland.

t enough; inadequate to any need, use, or purpose; as, the provisions are insufficient in quantity, and defective in quality. "Insufficient for His praise." Cowper.

The quantity taken in; as, the intake of air.

Of, pertaining to, or being, a whole number or undivided quantity; not fractional.

erms of, as of a series, according to the law of the series; to introduce, as a number or quantity, in a partial series, according to the law of that part of the series.

An invariable quantity; a constant.

An invariable quantity; specifically, a function of the coefficients of one or more forms, which remains unaltered, when these undergo suitable linear transformations. J. J. Sylvester.

th reference to any two operations, which, when both are performed in succession upon any quantity, reproduce that quantity; as, multiplication is the inverse operation to division. The symbol of an inverse operation is the symbol of the direct operation with -1 as an index. Thus sin-1 x means the arc whose sine is x.…

The act or process of raising a quantity to any power assigned; the multiplication of a quantity into itself a given number of times; -- the reverse of evolution.

To raise to any assigned power; to multiply, as a quantity, into itself a given number of times; as, a quantity involved to the third or fourth power.

A very small quantity or degree; a jot; a particle. They never depart an iota from the authentic formulas of tyranny and usurpation. Burke. Iota subscript (Gr. Gram.), iota written beneath a preceding vowel, as a,, h,, w,, -- done when iota is silent.

olution of a cubic equation, in which the formula commonly employed contains an imaginary quantity, and therefore fails in its application. -- Ir`re*du"ci*ble*ness, n. -- -- Ir`re*du"ci*bly, adv.

e one during the lowering, and the other during the raising, of its temperature, when the quantity of heat given out by the fluid during any given stage of the one process is equal to the quantity received during the corresponding stage of the other. Such lines are said to be isodiabatic with respect to each other. Com…

That which passes, flows, or is sent out; the whole quantity sent forth or emitted at one time; as, an issue of bank notes; the daily issue of a newspaper.