positive definite

American  

adjective

Mathematics.

1. (of a quadratic form) positive for all real values of the variables, where the values are not all zero.

2. (of a matrix) displaying the coefficients of a positive definite quadratic form.

---

Other Word Forms

• positive definiteness
  noun

Etymology

Origin of positive definite

First recorded in 1905–10

Example Sentences

They imply a confession of lack of such wisdom as would enable me to make positive definite proposals.

From China, Japan and the U.S.A. Present-Day Conditions in the Far East and Their Bearing on the Washington Conference by Dewey, John

There is hope, positive, definite hope for every case—this fact is based on every imaginable form of stuttering or stammering.

From Stammering, Its Cause and Cure by Bogue, Benjamin Nathaniel

Why didn't He say something positive, definite, satisfactory, about another world?

From Lectures of Col. R. G. Ingersoll - Latest by Ingersoll, Robert Green

His heart ached with a positive, definite pain that he was not younger, handsomer, and better equipped to win the love of his wife.

From He Fell in Love with His Wife by Roe, Edward Payson

And as these biological facts, scanty, indefinite, rudimentary, though they are, aid him so essentially; judge what must be the value to him of such facts when they become positive, definite, and exhaustive.

From Essays on Education and Kindred Subjects Everyman's Library by Spencer, Herbert