Archimedean

American  

[ahr-kuh-mee-dee-uhn, -mi-dee-uhn] / ˌɑr kəˈmi di ən, -mɪˈdi ən /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or discovered by Archimedes.

2. Mathematics. of or relating to any ordered field, as the field of real numbers, having the property that for any two unequal positive elements there is an integral multiple of the smaller which is greater than the larger.

---

Etymology

Origin of Archimedean

First recorded in 1805–15; Archimede(s) + -an

Example Sentences

When he carves the peel of an apple into “a perfect Archimedean spiral,” finding a “sense of order and well-being” in “the ever-growing distance of the peel from the core,” you can’t help applauding.

From New York Times • Jun. 16, 2023

“Imagine the equation, or picture the graph, of the Archimedean spiral,” Serpell, a Harvard English professor, writes in the novel’s closing paragraph.

From Washington Post • Sep. 22, 2022

It’s a bit of collateral resonance, then, that by imagining viewing the Earth from an Archimedean point, astronomers move the Earth, too, if the Earth is the world from which we view the cosmos.

From Slate • Aug. 20, 2021

It is a relative of the rhombicuboctahedron, which is an Archimedean solid that also has 24 vertices with three squares and one equilateral triangle around each vertex.

From Scientific American • Mar. 31, 2018

While he was lecturing Frank and Percy on Archimedean mechanics, Hazel stared at the stone archway and muttered under her breath.

From "Blood of Olympus" by Rick Riordan