| 释义 |
extrapolation|ˌɛkstrəpəʊˈleɪʃən|
[f. interpolation by the substitution of extra for the first member of the word.]
Math. The action or method of finding by a calculation based on the known terms of a series, other terms outside of them, whether preceding or following. Hence transf., the drawing of a conclusion about some future or hypothetical situation based on observed tendencies; the inference resulting from such a process. (Cf. prec., sense 2 b.)
1872W. M. Watts Index of Spectra p. ix, If the line..lies near to the two reference lines, but not between them, the interpolation formula..must be replaced by one of the two following extrapolation formulæ. 1874W. S. Jevons Princ. Sci. II. xxii. 120 It is a matter of great scientific importance to apprehend precisely how far we can interpolate or extend experimental results by extrapolation. 1878C. A. Young in Newcomb Pop. Astron. iii. ii. 279 The process is an unsafe extrapolation. 1889Cent. Dict. s.v., The calculation of the population of the United States in 1900, from the population in 1870, 1880, and 1890, would be an extrapolation. 1903A. M. Clerke Probl. Astrophysics 9 The necessity for having recourse to the risky expedient of ‘extrapolation’—that is, of applying unrestrictedly to the unknown, rules gathered from observation over a comparatively narrow area. 1922J. Y. Simpson Man & Attainm. Immortality i. 16 By extrapolation of the curve of our knowledge we can reconstruct within the range of conceivability, if not of probability, the course of process. 1926H. C. Macpherson Mod. Astr. 135 Dr. Hubble strongly combats the contention that all non-galactic nebulae are spirals, which he characterizes as a ‘daring extrapolation’, ‘not justified by our present knowledge of nebular forms’. 1965J. D. North Measure of Universe xiv. 297 One of the chief concerns of all scientific theories..is to sanction extrapolation..and the expression of the distant and unknown in terms of what is familiar.
Hence exˈtrapolative a., characterized by or employing extrapolation.
1929Physical Rev. 2nd Ser. XXXIV. 34 The fact that levels of the same name are approaching the same grouping..might naturally have been expected from our extrapolative way of choosing the names. 1940Mind XLIX. 168 The extrapolative inference from the same set of data to an enormous number of independent propositions. 1968Sci. Jrnl. Nov. 87/1 Extrapolative planning.
Add: exˈtrapolatory a.
1953Rep. Progress Physics XVI. 332 We may call the cosmologies of kinematic relativity and of the steady-state theory ‘deductive’, and newtonian cosmology and relativistic cosmology ‘extrapolatory’. 1984Statistician XXXIII. 103 The forecasts of increasing scarcity of oil were simply extrapolatory and have not been fulfilled. |