infinitesimal

4 definitions found

infinitesimal - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Infinitesimal \In`fin*i*tes"i*mal\, a. [Cf. F. infinit['e]simal,
     fr. infinit['e]sime infinitely small, fr. L. infinitus. See
     Infinite, a.]
     Infinitely or indefinitely small; less than any assignable
     quantity or value; very small.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     Infinitesimal calculus, the different and the integral
        calculus, when developed according to the method used by
        Leibnitz, who regarded the increments given to variables
        as infinitesimal.
        [1913 Webster]

  Infinitesimal \In`fin*i*tes"i*mal\, n. (Math.)
     An infinitely small quantity; that which is less than any
     assignable quantity.
     [1913 Webster]

infinitesimal - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  infinitesimal
      adj 1: infinitely or immeasurably small; "two minute whiplike
             threads of protoplasm"; "reduced to a microscopic scale"
             [syn: infinitesimal, minute]
      n 1: (mathematics) a variable that has zero as its limit

infinitesimal - Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 :

  21 Moby Thesaurus words for "infinitesimal":
     atomic, corpuscular, embryonic, evanescent, germinal, granular,
     impalpable, imperceptible, imponderable, inappreciable,
     indiscernible, intangible, invisible, microcosmic, microscopic,
     molecular, subatomic, tenuous, thin, ultramicroscopic, unseeable