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more about indeterminate
indeterminate |
2 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Indeterminate \In`de*ter"mi*nate\, a. [L. indeterminatus.] Not determinate; not certain or fixed; indefinite; not precise; as an indeterminate number of years. --Paley. {Indeterminate analysis} (Math.), that branch of analysis which has for its object the solution of indeterminate problems. {Indeterminate coefficients} (Math.), coefficients arbitrarily assumed for convenience of calculation, or to facilitate some artifice of analysis. Their values are subsequently determined. {Indeterminate equation} (Math.), an equation in which the unknown quantities admit of an infinite number of values, or sets of values. A group of equations is indeterminate when it contains more unknown quantities than there are equations. {Indeterminate inflorescence} (Bot.), a mode of inflorescence in which the flowers all arise from axillary buds, the terminal bud going on to grow and sometimes continuing the stem indefinitely; -- called also {acropetal, botryose, centripetal, & indefinite inflorescence}. --Gray. {Indeterminate problem} (Math.), a problem which admits of an infinite number of solutions, or one in which there are fewer imposed conditions than there are unknown or required results. {Indeterminate quantity} (Math.), a quantity which has no fixed value, but which may be varied in accordance with any proposed condition. {Indeterminate series} (Math.), a series whose terms proceed by the powers of an indeterminate quantity, sometimes also with indeterminate exponents, or indeterminate coefficients. -- {In`de*ter"mi*nate*ly} adv -- {In`de*ter"mi*nate*ness}, n. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: indeterminate adj 1: not precisely determined or established; not fixed or known in advance; "of indeterminate age"; "a zillion is a large indeterminate number"; "an indeterminate point of law"; "the influence of environment is indeterminate"; "an indeterminate future" [syn: {undetermined}] [ant: {determinate}] 2: (botany) having a capacity for continuing to grow at the apex; "an indeterminate stem" [ant: {determinate}] 3: of uncertain or ambiguous nature; "the equivocal (or indeterminate) objects painted by surrealists" 4: not capable of being determined; "an indeterminate number of plant species in the jungle" 5: not leading to a definite ending or result; "an indeterminate campaign" 6: not clearly understood or expressed; "an indeterminate turn of phrase"; "an impulse to go off and fight certain obscure battles of his own spirit"-Anatole Broyard; "their descriptions of human behavior become vague, dull, and unclear"- P.A.Sorokin; "vague...forms of speech...have so long passed for mysteries of science"- John Locke [syn: {obscure}, {vague}]
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