| 释义 |
numerical, a. (and n.)|njuːˈmɛrɪkəl|
[f. as prec. + -al1.]
1. a. Pertaining or relating to number; of the nature of, according to, number; etc.
1628Spencer Logick 112 Vnequals..cannot be one in numericall quantitie. 1656Blount Glossogr. s.v. Numerical, As when we say a numerical difference, that is to say, the last difference, by which one individual thing is distinguished from one another. 1700Gregory in Collect. (O.H.S.) I. 323 He supposeth one is pretty well acquainted with the numerical arithmetick. 1712Lond. Gaz. No. 4952/4 An exact Table of the..Tickets in a Numerical Order..will be publish'd. 1782Priestley Corrupt. Chr. I. i. 127 Joachim..denied that.. nothing but a numerical or moral union was left. 1837Whewell Hist. Induct. Sci. (1857) I. 47 He confounded..a numerical unit with a geometrical point. 1867Duke of Argyll Reign of Law ii. (ed. 4) 73 All that we ever know is some numerical rule or measure according to which some unknown forces operate. 1881Lubbock in Nature XXIV. 410/2 He obtained a numerical value of the mechanical equivalent of heat.
b. Of figures, etc.: Denoting a number.
1706A. Bedford Temple Mus. vii. 153 The Numbers..might have been writ in Numerical Letters. 1800Naval Chron. III. 295 Jackson hoisted the horary and numerical signal. 1816Bentham Chrestom. 184 A quantity, for the designation of which no more than one numerical figure..is employed. 1863Max Müller Chips (1880) II. xxvi. 289 The Brahmans were the original inventors of those numerical symbols.
c. In respect of numbers.
1812Examiner 24 Aug. 539/2 He would..state the numerical force of his own and the enemy's army. 1849Grote Greece ii. l. (1862) IV. 379 Nikostratus..was not afraid of this numerical superiority. 1881Westcott & Hort Grk. N.T. Introd. §53 The numerical authority of the two supposed witnesses against the third.
d. Of playing-cards: Bearing a certain number of distinguishing marks or ‘pips’.
1816Singer Hist. Cards 45 The numerical cards in each suit appear to have been ten in number.
e. Characterized by the use of ordinary figures expressive of number.
1840Penny Cycl. XVI. 369/1 Numerical, as opposed to literal, in algebra, applies to an expression in which the co⁓efficients of a letter are all numbers, and not letters. 1881Burnside & Panton The. Equations (1886) 2 An equation is numerical or algebraical according as its coefficients are numbers or algebraical symbols.
f. Designated by a number instead of a name.
1872Howells Wedd. Journ. (1892) 29 They turned into one of the numerical streets to cross to Broadway.
g. Special collocations: numerical analysis: the branch of mathematics that deals with the development and use of numerical methods for solving problems (usu. ones too complicated for analytic methods); so numerical analyst; numerical aperture: a measure of the resolving power of a microscope objective (for a given wavelength), equal to the product of the refractive index of the medium in front of it and the sine of the semi-angle of the cone it subtends at the centre of the object; numerical control: the use of numerical data stored on tape or punched cards to control automatically the movement and operations of machine tools and work-pieces.
[1930J. B. Scarborough (title) Numerical mathematical analysis.] 1946Ann. Computation Lab. Harvard Univ. I. 338 (heading) Bibliography of numerical analysis. 1947Sci. News Let. 27 Sept. 201/2 The National Bureau of Standards' new Institute of Numerical Analysis will feature high-speed electronic calculators. 1952D. R. Hartree Numerical Anal. i. 2 The methods of numerical analysis..have that degree of generality which entitles them to be considered part of mathematics. 1974Encycl. Brit. Macropædia XIII. 390/1 The numerical solution of ordinary differential equations is one of the most important branches of numerical analysis because many physical problems lead to ordinary differential equations that cannot be solved analytically.
1956F. B. Hildebrand Introd. Numerical Anal. i. 1 Generally the numerical analyst does not strive for exactness.
1878Jrnl. R. Microsc. Soc. I. 19 The inner scale shows the air⁓angle, the outer scale the ‘numerical aperture’. Ibid. 21 This quantity α, which Professor Abbe calls ‘numerical aperture’, gives an absolute definition of aperture..by which lenses of every kind are directly comparable. 1952R. W. Ditchburn Light viii. 253 With a dry lens, the maximum value of the numerical aperture is 1·0, and values up to 0·95 have been obtained. Oil-immersion objectives with numerical apertures up to 1·65 have been constructed. Ibid., Higher magnifications have been obtained using electron microscopes... The effective wave⁓length may be of the order of 0·1 Å., but the numerical aperture of models so far available is very low, being only of the order of 0·01. 1969S. G. & H. Lipson Optical Physics ix. 278 The limit of resolution of the microscope..is equal to λ/numerical aperture.
1952Final Rep. Construction & Operation of Numerically Controlled Milling Machine (Mass. Inst. Technol. Servomechanisms Lab.) 30 July 1 (AD 22241). Summary 1 A new technique of automatic machine-tool control..promises to simplify some of the manufacturing problems of medium and small run production often encountered in the aircraft industry. Called numerical control, this technique has been applied by M.I.T...to a milling machine controlled by a numerical code punched on paper tape. 1955IRE Trans. Industr. Electronics II. 3 (heading) Numerical control of machine tools. Ibid. 5/1 The numerical control for this turret punch press uses the Remington-Rand 45 column tabulating card. 1966Economist 2 July 56/1 What the two companies are claiming is that..numerical control is now suitable for mass production. Ibid. 57/1 There are 25 British companies producing machine tools for numerical control. 1971H. C. Town Design & Construction Machine Tools vii. 159 With numerical control the instructions for the various phases of a cycle are transmitted by punched or magnetic tape inserted in a reader unit.
2.
†a. Particular, individual. Obs. rare.
1643Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. i. §33, I beleeve..that they [spirits] have knowledge not only of the specificall, but numericall formes of individuals. 1674Hickman Quinquart. Hist. Ep. (ed. 2) A 3 b, I cannot comprehend.. how three Persons subsist in one numerical nature. 1699Bentley Phal. 419 Every such Couple were the Numerical Halves, that made up one compleat Person in the former State.
†b. With this or that (passing into next). Obs.
1644Bulwer Chiron. 89 Many of these Numericall postures of the Fingers are found in the statues of the Ancients. 1660Boyle New Exp. Phys. Mech. xxix. 222 Though it be now divers years since this Numerical Liquor was prepared. 1702Steele Funeral i. (1734) 25 Am I really Alive? Am I that Identical, that Numerical, that very same Lord Brumpton? 1720–21Lett. fr. Mist's Jrnl. (1722) II. 248, I would gladly be informed if..Mr. William Tong..be that numerical Will Tong, who formerly kept a canting School in this City.
†3.
a. With same: Individual, identical. Obs.
In common use from 1650 to 1700: see also numeric a.
1624Burton Anat. Mel. i. iii. i. ii. (ed. 2) 165 As in a Riuer we swimme in the same place, though not in the same numericall water. 1662Hibbert Body Divinity ii. 62 It was the very same numerical body which he had before. 1710Norris Chr. Prud. vii. 305 The same Numerical Act cannot be well conceiv'd to govern itself.
†b. Similarly with very. Obs.
1650Fuller Pisgah v. xix. 179 The Law of the Jews; probably that very numericall book..kept in the Temple. 1673Dryden Marr. à la Mode ii. i, I may tell you,..this is that very numerical Lady, with whom I am in love. 1699Bentley Phal. 213 The Writer of the Epistle has the very numerical words of Euripides. 1716M. Davies Athen. Brit. II. 175 All the several Manuscripts of the Policraticon..are the very Numerical Book describ'd by Bale and Pitts.
†4. Metrical, rhythmical. Obs. rare—1.
1749Power Numbers in Poet. Compositions 4 What I intend then is a particular Examination of the numerical Structure both in Verse and Prose.
†5. n. A number. Obs. rare—1.
1766Holwell Princ. Anc. Bramins vi. (1779) 121 The cause of the superstitious veneration paid by the Gentoos to the numericals one and three. |