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.

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Other Word Forms

• positive definiteness noun

Etymology

Origin of positive definite

First recorded in 1905–10

Example Sentences

“You mean that it has come as a positive definite occurrence, with a name and a date?”

From The Beast in the Jungle by James, Henry

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

There ought to be some very quick, positive, definite answer.

From Unborn Tomorrow by Freas, Kelly

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

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