sensagent's content

• definitions
• synonyms
• antonyms
• encyclopedia

Dictionary and translator for handheld

New : sensagent is now available on your handheld

sensagent's office

Shortkey or widget. Free.

Windows Shortkey: . Free.

Vista Widget : . Free.

Webmaster Solution

Alexandria

A windows (pop-into) of information (full-content of Sensagent) triggered by double-clicking any word on your webpage. Give contextual explanation and translation from your sites !

Try here  or   get the code

SensagentBox

With a SensagentBox, visitors to your site can access reliable information on over 5 million pages provided by Sensagent.com. Choose the design that fits your site.

WordGame

The English word games are:
○   Anagrams
○   Wildcard, crossword
○   Lettris
○   Boggle.

Lettris

Lettris is a curious tetris-clone game where all the bricks have the same square shape but different content. Each square carries a letter. To make squares disappear and save space for other squares you have to assemble English words (left, right, up, down) from the falling squares.

boggle

Boggle gives you 3 minutes to find as many words (3 letters or more) as you can in a grid of 16 letters. You can also try the grid of 16 letters. Letters must be adjacent and longer words score better. See if you can get into the grid Hall of Fame !

English dictionary
Main references

Most English definitions are provided by WordNet .
English thesaurus is mainly derived from The Integral Dictionary (TID).
English Encyclopedia is licensed by Wikipedia (GNU).

The wordgames anagrams, crossword, Lettris and Boggle are provided by Memodata.
The web service Alexandria is granted from Memodata for the Ebay search.
The SensagentBox are offered by sensAgent.

Translation

Change the target language to find translations.
Tips: browse the semantic fields (see From ideas to words) in two languages to learn more.

last searches on the dictionary :

2453 online visitors

computed in 0.140s

»

# definitions

## formula(n.)

1.something regarded as a normative example"the convention of not naming the main character" "violence is the rule not the exception" "his formula for impressing visitors"

2.(mathematics) a standard procedure for solving a class of mathematical problems"he determined the upper bound with Descartes' rule of signs" "he gave us a general formula for attacking polynomials"

3.a group of symbols that make a mathematical statement

4.a conventionalized statement expressing some fundamental principle

5.directions for making something

6.a representation of a substance using symbols for its constituent elements

7.a liquid food for infants

8.(American)a vessel fitted with a flexible teat and filled with milk or formula; used as a substitute for breast feeding infants and very young children

# Merriam Webster

FormulaFor"mu*la (?), n.; pl. E. Formulas (#), L. Formulæ (#). [L., dim. of forma form, model. SeeForm, n.]
1. A prescribed or set form; an established rule; a fixed or conventional method in which anything is to be done, arranged, or said.

2. (Eccl.) A written confession of faith; a formal statement of foctrines.

3. (Math.) A rule or principle expressed in algebraic language; as, the binominal formula.

4. (Med.) A prescription or recipe for the preparation of a medicinal compound.

5. (Chem.) A symbolic expression (by means of letters, figures, etc.) of the constituents or constitution of a compound.

Chemical formulæ consist of the abbreviations of the names of the elements, with a small figure at the lower right hand, to denote the number of atoms of each element contained.

Empirical formula (Chem.), an expression which gives the simple proportion of the constituents; as, the empirical formula of acetic acid is C2H4O2. -- Graphic formula, Rational formula (Chem.), an expression of the constitution, and in a limited sense of the structure, of a compound, by the grouping of its atoms or radicals; as, a rational formula of acetic acid is CH3.(C:O).OH; -- called also structural formula, constitutional formula, etc. See also the formula of Benzene nucleus, under Benzene. -- Molecular formula (Chem.), a formula indicating the supposed molecular constitution of a compound.

# analogical dictionary

formula (n.)

formula (n.)

bottle[Classe]

petite chose (fr)[ClasseParExt.]

allaitement (fr)[Thème]

factotum[Domaine]

Artifact[Domaine]

container[Hyper.]

vessel[Hyper.]

formula (n.) [American]

formula (n.)

formula (n.)

factotum[Domaine]

Procedure[Domaine]

formulate[Dérivé]

formula (n.)

formula (n.)

gastronomy[Domaine]

Beverage[Domaine]

food product, foodstuff[Hyper.]

milk[Dérivé]

milk[Hyper.]

formula (n.)

# Formula

In mathematics, a formula is an entity constructed using the symbols and formation rules of a given logical language. In science, a specific formula is a concise way of expressing information symbolically as in a mathematical or chemical formula. The plural of formula can be spelled either formulae (like the original Latin) for mathematical or scientific senses, or formulas for more general senses.[1] The informal use of the term formula in science refers to the general construct of a relationship between given quantities.

Such formulae are the key to solving an equation with variables. For example, determining the volume of a sphere requires a significant amount of integral calculus; but, having done this once, mathematicians can produce a formula to describe the volume in terms of some other parameter (the radius for example). This particular formula is:

$V =\frac{4}{3} \pi r^3.$

Having obtained this result, and knowing the radius of the sphere in question, we can quickly and easily determine its volume. Note that the quantities V, the volume, and r the radius are expressed as single letters. This convention, while less important in a relatively simple formula, means that mathematicians can more quickly manipulate larger and more complex formulae.

Expressions are distinct from formulae in that they cannot contain an equals sign; whereas formulae are comparable to sentences, expressions are more like phrases.

In a general context, formulae are applied to provide a mathematical solution for real world problems. Some may be general: F = ma, which is one expression of Newton's second law, is applicable to a wide range of physical situations. Other formulae may be specially created to solve a particular problem; for example, using the equation of a sine curve to model the movement of the tides in a bay. In all cases however, formulae form the basis for all calculations.

## In computing

In computing, a formula typically describes a calculation, such as addition, to be performed on one or more variables. A formula is often implicitly provided in the form of a computer instruction such as.

Degrees Celsius = (5/9)*(Degrees Fahrenheit -32)

In computer spreadsheet software, a formula indicating how to compute the value of a cell, say A3, is written such as

=A1+A2

where A1 and A2 refer to other cells (column A, row 1 or 2) within the spreadsheet. This is a shortcut for the "paper" form A3 = A1+A2 where A3 is, by convention, omitted because the result is always stored in the cell itself and would be redundant.

## Formulae with prescribed units

A physical quantity can be expressed as the product of a number and a physical unit. A formula expresses a relationship between physical quantities. A necessary condition for a formula to be valid is that all terms have the same dimension, meaning every term in the formula could be potentially converted to contain the identical unit (or product of identical units).

In the example above, for the volume of a sphere, we may wish to compute with r = 2.0 cm, which yields

$V = \frac{4}{3}\pi(2.0 \mbox{ cm})^3 = 33.47 \mbox{ cm}^{3}.$

There is vast educational training about retaining units in computations, and converting units to a desirable form, such as in units conversion by factor-label.

However, the vast majority of computations with measurements are done in computer programs with no facility for retaining a symbolic computation of the units. Only the numerical quantity is used in the computation. This requires that the universal formula be converted to a formula that is intended to be used only with prescribed units, meaning the numerical quantity is implicitly assumed to be multiplying a particular unit. The requirements about the prescribed units must be given to users of the input and the output of the formula.

For example suppose the formula is to require that $V \equiv \mathrm{VOL}~\bold{tbsp}$, where tbsp is the U.S. tablespoon (as seen in conversion of units) and VOL is the name for the number used by the computer. Similarly, the formula is to require $r \equiv \mathrm{RAD}~\bold{cm}$. The derivation of the formula proceeds as:

$\mathrm{VOL}~\bold{tbsp} = \frac{4}{3} \pi \mathrm{RAD}^3~ \bold{cm}^3.$

Given that $1~\bold{tbsp} = 14.787~\bold{cm}^3$, the formula with prescribed units is

$\mathrm{VOL} = 0.2933~\mathrm{RAD}^3.$

The formula is not complete without words such as: "VOL is volume in tbsp and RAD is radius in cm". Other possible words are "VOL is the ratio of $V$ to tbsp and RAD is the ratio of $r$ to cm."

The formula with prescribed units could also appear with simple symbols, perhaps even the identical symbols as in the original dimensional formula:

$V = 0.2833~r^3.$

and the accompanying words could be: "where V is volume (tbsp) and r is radius (cm)".

If the physical formula is not dimensionally homogeneous, and therefore erroneous, the falsehood becomes apparent in the impossibility to derive a formula with prescribed units. It would not be possible to derive a formula consisting only of numbers and dimensionless ratios.