abstract number

noun

Mathematics.

1. a number that does not designate the quantity of any particular kind of thing.

Word History and Origins

Origin of abstract number¹

First recorded in 1550–60

Example Sentences

Studies show, for example, that people are more likely to help a single person than they are to take action to support a statistically large but abstract number of victims.

From Salon

Gross domestic product, the economy’s total output of goods and services, remains “an abstract number” to ordinary people, and the ruble’s exchange rate is less of a symbol than it used to be because most people can’t travel and there are fewer imported goods to buy, Kluge said.

From Seattle Times

Shortly before his death, he warned of a world where the individual “has lost his individuality and become a mere abstract number in the bureau of statistics.”

From Washington Post

“Even if it means fewer programs, we want to see them done well, so I don’t think any of us felt like it was useful to just talk about an abstract number.”

From New York Times

Over the next millennium, algebra evolved from the study of the nature of solutions to polynomial equations to the study of abstract number systems.

From Scientific American