mathematical

From Middle English mathematicalle, mathematical, from Medieval Latin mathēmaticālis.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌmæθəˈmætɪkəl/

  • Audio (Southern England):

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• (General American, weak vowel distinction) IPA^(key): /ˌmæθəˈmætɪkəl/
  • (weak vowel merger) IPA^(key): /ˌmæθəˈmætəkəl/

mathematical (comparative more mathematical, superlative most mathematical)

1. Of, or relating to mathematics

   a mathematical problem

   • 1897, Thomas Hardy, The Well-Beloved:

     […] he looked up the uninteresting left road to the fortifications. It was new, long, white, regular, tapering to a vanishing point, like a lesson in perspective. […] Smaller and smaller she waned up the rigid mathematical road, still gazing at the soldier aloft, as Pierston gazed at her.

   • 1961, Henry Semat, Fundamentals of PHYSICS, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, page 161:

     Although Galileo had designed a pendulum clock, he never actually constructed one. The first pendulum clock was constructed by the Dutch physicist Christian Huygens (1629–1695) in 1657. He also developed the mathematical theory of the pendulum. Newton also studied the motion of a pendulum and experimented with pendulums made of different materials and of different lengths.

   • 2013 July-August, Sarah Glaz, “Ode to Prime Numbers”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4:

     Some poems, echoing the purpose of early poetic treatises on scientific principles, attempt to elucidate the mathematical concepts that underlie prime numbers. Others play with primes’ cultural associations. Still others derive their structure from mathematical patterns involving primes.

2. (figuratively) Extremely precise and accurate, as though having the exactness of a mathematical equation.
   • 2016 December 1, “Dance Listings for Dec. 2-8”, in The New York Times‎, archived from the original on 2022-06-16:

     Lucinda Childs got her start with the postmodern Judson Dance Theater and became known for precise, almost mathematical choreographic patterns.

3. Possible but highly improbable

   The team has a mathematical chance of being promoted, but they need to win the next seven matches.

• metathalamic