mathematic

English

Alternative forms

• mathematick (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English mathematik, from Old French mathematique or directly from Latin mathēmaticus, from Ancient Greek μᾰθημᾰτῐκός (măthēmătĭkós), from μάθημα (máthēma, “learning; mathematics”) + -ικός (-ikós, “-ic”, adjective suffix).

Adjective

mathematic (comparative more mathematic, superlative most mathematic)

1. (archaic) Mathematical.
   • c. 1798, Joseph Fawcett, On Viſiting the Gardens at Verſailles:

     Round rolls the stroke with mathematic care,
     All centre-bound, exactly circular:
     No sportive way it takes, at large and free,
     No gambol plays of freakful liberty […]

   • 1874 June 1, Francis Barham, “On Swedenborg’s Theology. An Unpublished Fragment.”, in The Intellectual Repository and New Jerusalem Magazine (Enlarged Series; XXI), volume XLIX (Entire Work), number 246, London: Published by the General Conference of the New Church, signified by the New Jerusalem in the Revelation: And sold by James Speirs, 36 Bloomsbury Street, →OCLC, page 263:

     This is the sort of struggle which proves a man's metal, and declares it sterling or counterfeit. No spuriosity, no charlatanry can stand this fiery alembic of hard-wrought and exquisite calculation, in which one mathematic point or unit misplaced destroys the whole chain of reasoning, and proves the candidate a blunderer.

Derived terms

• mathematicaster
• mathematicise
• mathematicism
• mathematicistic
• mathematicity
• mathematicization
• mathematicize
• mathematics