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ous kinds of soil, etc. How diversely Love doth his pageants play, And snows his power in variable kinds ! Spenser. There is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. I Cor. xv. 39. Diogenes was asked in a kind of scorn: What was the matter that philosophers haunted ric…

Ticklish; not easily managed; troublesome; difficult; variable. [Prov. Eng. & Scot.] Halliwell. Sir W. Scott.

In matematics: The rule according to which anything, as the change of value of a variable, or the value of the terms of a series, proceeds; mode or order of sequence.

o some of the volatile products obtained in refining crude petroleum. It is a complex and variable mixture of several hydrocarbons, generally boils below 170º Fahr., and is more inflammable than safe kerosene. It is used as a solvent, as a carburetant for air gas, and for illumination in special lamps.…

A determinate quantity, to which a variable one continually approaches, and may differ from it by less than any given difference, but to which, under the law of variation, the variable can never become exactly equivalent. Elastic limit. See under Elastic. -- Prison limits, a definite, extent of space in or around a pr…

, when the expression which is equated to zero is regarded as a function of the dependent variable and its differential coefficients. -- Linear equation (Math.), an equation of the first degree between two variables; -- so called because every such equation may be considered as representing a right line. -- Linear me…

an intermediate value between two extremes, or between the several successive values of a variable quantity during one cycle of variation; as, mean distance; mean motion; mean solar day. Mean distance (of a planet from the sun) (Astron.), the average of the distances throughout one revolution of the planet, equivalent…

A substance of variable composition, but resembling a soft, dark-colored metal, used in the bearings of machines for obviating friction, and as a substitute for lubricants.

Subject to change; changeable; variable.

A remarkable variable star in the constellation Cetus (o Ceti).

occupies in passing from any given velocity to the same velocity again, if its motion be variable; -- called also the efficiency of the machine. Mosley. Rankine. -- Modulus of a system of logarithms (Math.), a number by which all the Napierian logarithms must be multiplied to obtain the logarithms in another system.…

Like the moon; variable. Being but a moonish youth. Shak.

The doctrine of philosophical necessity; the doctrine that results follow by invariable sequence from causes, and esp. that the will is not free, but that human actions and choices result inevitably from motives; deteminism. M. Arnold.

al differential coefficients, Partial differentiation, etc. (of a function of two or more variables), the differentials, differential coefficients, differentiation etc., of the function, upon the hypothesis that some of the variables are for the time constant. -- Partial fractions (Alg.), fractions whose sum equals a…

l equilibrium, discovered by Prof. J. Willard Gibbs. It may be stated thus: The degree of variableness (number of degrees of freedom) of a system is equal to the number of components minus the number of phases, plus two. Thus, if the components be salt and water, and the phases salt, ice, saturated solution, and vapor,…

rything but the natural phenomena or properties of knowable things, together with their invariable relations of coexistence and succession, as occurring in time and space. Such relations are denominated laws, which are to be discovered by observation, experiment, and comparison. This philosophy holds all inquiry into c…

Exceedingly variable; readily assuming different shapes or forms; as, an amoeba is a protean animalcule.

ea bounded by a curve; hence, the definite integral of the product of any function of one variable into the differential of that variable.

A homogeneous algebraic function of two or more variables, in general containing only positive integral powers of the variables, and called quadric, cubic, quartic, etc., according as it is of the second, third, fourth, fifth, or a higher degree. These are further called binary, ternary, quaternary, etc., according as…

he manner of reciprocals. Reciprocally proportional (Arith. & Alg.), proportional, as two variable quantities, so that the one shall have a constant ratio to the reciprocal of the other.