number theory

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noun Mathematics.

the study of integers and their relation to one another.

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Also called theory of numbers.

Origin of number theory

First recorded in 1910–15

Words nearby number theory

Numbers, numbers game, number sign, numbers pool, Number Ten, number theory, number two, number work, numbfish, numbing, numbles

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use number theory in a sentence

“Under the hood it’s a lot of number theory, but at its surface it’s geometry,” said Kedlaya.
Tetrahedron Solutions Finally Proved Decades After Computer Search|Kevin Hartnett|February 2, 2021|Quanta Magazine
In 2017, during a seminar celebrating Farb’s 50th birthday, Kisin listened to Wolfson’s talk and realized with surprise that their ideas about polynomials were related to questions in his own work in number theory.
Mathematicians Resurrect Hilbert’s 13th Problem|Stephen Ornes|January 14, 2021|Quanta Magazine
You can even use it to resolve problems in the distant world of number theory!
How I Learned to Love and Fear the Riemann Hypothesis|Alex Kontorovich|January 4, 2021|Quanta Magazine
Proving the conjecture true or false would be an epochal event in number theory, allowing mathematicians to better understand the distribution of prime numbers.
How the Slowest Computer Programs Illuminate Math’s Fundamental Limits|John Pavlus|December 10, 2020|Quanta Magazine

This is a fundamental insight that crops up everywhere in modern number theory, in the Langlands Program and arithmetic geometry.
An Infinite Universe of Number Systems|Kelsey Houston-Edwards|October 19, 2020|Quanta Magazine
But at the heart of this “Truther” conspiracy theory is the idea that “someone” wants to destroy Bill Cosby.
Phylicia Rashad and the Cult of Cosby Truthers|Stereo Williams|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Is it sort of evidence of the Gladwellian 10,000 hours theory?
Coffee Talk with Fred Armisen: On ‘Portlandia,’ Meeting Obama, and Taylor Swift’s Greatness|Marlow Stern|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
“Our members continue to face a number of challenges,” she said.
The Republican War on Kale|Patricia Murphy|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The number of dissenters though is unprecedented in the modern era.
Democrats Accidentally Save Boehner From Republican Coup|Ben Jacobs, Jackie Kucinich|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
But a 2011 study of genetic evidence from 30 ethnic groups in India disproved this theory.
The Himalayas’ Hidden Aryans|Nina Strochlic|January 3, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The country is well inhabited, for it contains fifty-one cities, near a hundred walled towns, and a great number of villages.
Gulliver's Travels|Jonathan Swift
In the year of misery, of agony and suffering in general he had endured, he had settled upon one theory.
The Homesteader|Oscar Micheaux
Dean Swift was indeed a misanthrope by theory, however he may have made exception to private life.
Gulliver's Travels|Jonathan Swift
We had six field-pieces, but we only took four, harnessed wit twice the usual number of horses.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXXIX. January, 1844. Vol. LV.|Various
There are a number of bacilli, called acid-fast bacilli, which stain in the same way as the tubercle bacillus.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd

British Dictionary definitions for number theory

number theory

noun

the study of integers, their properties, and the relationship between integers

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012