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complex number

(MATHEMATICS) a number consisting of a real number and an imaginary number; imaginary numbers are multiples of the square root of -1.
You need a complex number to express the value of an electromagnetic wave function.
by Abu Yahya April 23, 2010
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square root

(MATHEMATICS) each positive number has another number that, when multiplied times itself, equals that number. So, for example, 4 has a square root of 2 (2 x 2 = 4).

The square root of a negative number is an imaginary number. Imaginary numbers are not, by themselves, useful solutions to math problems; but they can be used to find them.
BILL: Anna, we have a rectangle that's 3 x as long as it is wide, and it encloses an area of 300 square meters. What are the dimensions?

ANNA: Well, that's like 3 squares of 100 square meters. The square root of 100 is 10, so the rectangle is 10 by 30.

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The logarithm of a square root is one half the log of the number itself; hence, the natural log of 25 is 3.2189, while the natural log of 5 is 1.6094.
by Abu Yahya April 23, 2010
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logarithm

(MATHEMATICS) a function of numbers that are the root of a base. For example, log(base 2) means a function of numbers that are the numbered roots of 2. The log(base 2) of 2 is 1, meaning 2 raised to the power of 1 is 2 (2^1 = 2); log(2) of 4 is 2, and so on.

The idea here is that any number can be expressed as 2 raised to some power; better still, if you do math with the logs of a number rather than the numbers themselves, you can find useful patterns. For example, if you are graphing population growth, and you just plot the raw number of people over time, you aren't going to notice anything in particular. If you plot the log of population, you can see that, while population is growing, the rate of growth is falling.

Usually, if you are doing statistical research with numbers that always have to be positive (like population, death tolls from diseases, etc.), you need to use logarithms for the numerical values in order to represent a confidence interval.

Logs usually have a base of e or 10. Logs with a base of e are called natural logs.
A logarithm is the inverse of an exponential function.
by Abu Yahya April 23, 2010
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confidence interval

(STATISTICS) a range of values for which you are x percent confident contains the correct answer. Answers to a statistical question which are ranged from the lowest likely value to the highest; answers outside of this range are highly unlikely.

Presupposes that you are estimating a value based on sample data, and the sample data has a genuinely random variance.

Usually the confidence interval is for a 95% confidence, meaning there is only a 5% probability that the true value is OUTSIDE the interval.
ANNA: I've been driving your car for about a month.

JAMES: And what you think is the MPG?

ANNA: It's probably about 25 MPG, with a 95% confidence interval of 19.5 to 32 MPG.

JAMES: Holy cow! Any Prussians in your family tree?
by Abu Yahya April 23, 2010
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green mind

Philippine slang for someone who thinks compulsively erotic thoughts; dirty minded; the tendency to give innocent phrases a sexual connotation.

Occasionally the use of the term "green minded" by Usonian English speakers (to mean "environmentally conscious") causes Pinoys great amusement.
WILLIAM: How long have you lived here?

ALFREDO: Ever since I came in the USA

WILLIAM: Dude, you had sex with the USA? Did she get pregnant?

ALFREDO: Aw, man, you have a green mind!
by Abu Yahya February 22, 2010
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dirty minded

exceptionally prone to seeing the scurrilous, sexy, or kinky aspect of everything; obsessed with sex; prone to seeing sexual overtones to nonsexual behavior.

A dirty minded person may be hypocritical and unctuous, but read filthy motives into the acts of other people. For example, in the movie "American Beauty," the military officer wrongly assumes that his son's interactions with his neighbor are homosexual, rather than commercial--projecting his own repressed sexuality onto others (with deadly results).
The dirty minded obscene person does not shamelessly exult in his bawdy language, nor does he use it without self-consciousness... The dirty minded person has only partially internalized the taboos that he violates...

Joel Feinberg, _Offense to Others_, p.267
by Abu Yahya February 22, 2010
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Industrial System

All of the parts of a productive system that contribute to marketable products; the productive elements in a particular economy. This includes the entire network of firms, regulatory bodies (like government), infrastructure (roads, telecommunications), and financial intermediaries (banks, thrifts).

In a global economy, there are many industrial systems. In fact, it's quite possible that a single town could have companies belonging to different industrial systems; e.g., a paper mill near a biotech research facility. Almost none of the productive systems share potential employees or potential markets; a recession for the biotech business could--and probably would--completely spare the paper mill. Moreover, the managers of the two businesses probably want opposite policies: the mill owners want low taxes and small government, while the biotech researchers want big spending on education and infrastructure.

Much confusion is caused by calling the industrial system the "economy." The industrial system is not the economy. The industrial system is an organic entity within a greater economy. Various policies may be beneficial for this or that industrial system, with an ambiguous effect (if any) on the economy.
The family model was incorporated into the industrial system with the agent (who was the chief manager) filling the father's role. The same model was also expressed in the hierarchical management structure... The overseer was the "father" of his workroom and was expected to treat the workers like his children.

(Tamara K. Hareven, *Family Time and Industrial Time* 1982, p.4)
by Abu Yahya February 24, 2010
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