ideal element

British  

noun

1. any element added to a mathematical theory in order to eliminate special cases. The ideal element i = √–1 allows all algebraic equations to be solved and the point at infinity ( ideal point ) ensures that any two lines in projective geometry intersect

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Example Sentences

As the lightest metal on the periodic table, and the one most eager to shed its electrons, lithium is the ideal element to make powerful, portable batteries.

From Nature • Oct. 27, 2015

Now in literature all conditions tend to the enormous preponderance of the ideal element in experience.

From The Psychology of Beauty by Howes, Ethel Dench Puffer

And yet how perfectly did his genius divine that ideal element in our early New England life, conceiving what must have been without asking proof of what actually was!

From Among My Books First Series by Lowell, James Russell

But the moment it is admitted that there is a beauty of form independent of the ideal element, this theory can no longer stand.

From The Psychology of Beauty by Howes, Ethel Dench Puffer

You cannot start in your investigations with a bare, self-identical, objective fact, stripped of every ideal element or contribution from thought.

From Mind and Motion and Monism by Romanes, George John