metamathematicaladj.
/ˌmɛtəˌmaθ(ə)ˈmatᵻkl/, U.S. /ˈˌmɛdəˌmæθ(ə)ˈmædək(ə)l/ 1. That is beyond the scope of mathematics. Now rare.
ΚΠ
1833 Sir W. R. Hamilton Introd. Lect. Astron. in R. P. Graves Life Sir W. R. Hamilton (1885) II. 68 In the application of the mathematics themselves there must (if I may venture on the word) be something meta-mathematical.
1878 Mind 3 215 The metamathematical space-relations have never been actually perceived by us.
1938 Speculum 13 187 A Point, the Point, metaphysical and metamathematical, He is flawlessly above any residue of anthropomorphism.
2. Of or relating to metamathematics.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > mathematics > [adjective] > characterized by theories of or approaches to
physico-mathematical1660
analytical1694
Bernoulli1749
analytic1761
Boolean1851
Sturmian1853
Bernoullian1876
Fermatian1887
Grassmannian1894
number-theoretic1899
Cantor1902
Cantorian1912
Tauberian1913
Thiessen1923
intuitionist1926
metamathematical1926
finitist1931
number-theoretical1936
finitistic1937
proof-theoretic1940
formalistic1941
Gödelian1942
constructivist1943
constructivistic1944
game-theoretical1946
game-theoretic1950
finitary1952
perturbation-theoretic1964
perturbation-theoretical1968
constructive1979
1926 Math. Gaz. 13 188 It is contended that the principles used in the metamathematical proof that the axioms of mathematics do not lead to contradiction, are so obviously true that not even the sceptics can doubt them.
1952 S. C. Kleene Introd. Metamath. vi. 140 In either case, the rules of inference must have the character of schemata, i.e. they must employ metamathematical variables, since infinitely many applications have to be provided for.
1971 Nature 8 Jan. 104/2 Hilbert's programme for demonstrating the consistency of arithmetic by metamathematical methods resulted in a new outburst of activity which culminated..with Gödel's incompleteness theorem.
1989 J. L. Casti Paradigms Lost v. 274 Note that the properties of completeness and consistency are what are termed metamathematical statements about the system F.
Derivatives
ˌmetamatheˈmatically adv. by metamathematics; in metamathematical terms.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > mathematics > [adverb] > using specific method or theory
analytically1570
metamathematically1936
number-theoretically1950
proof-theoretically1952
chaotically1975
1936 W. V. Quine in Jrnl. Symbolic Logic 1 2 Each function of the formal system is restricted, thus metamathematically, to one degree for its values and to one for each of its arguments.
1956 J. H. Woodger tr. A. Tarski Logic, Semantics, Metamath. 116 Let us now consider the situation metamathematically.
1988 Theoret. Computer Sci. 61 225 Termination and correctness are proved metamathematically.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1833