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

See Examples For:

ideal element

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

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 James Russell Lowell

Denying that life has an ideal element, they take pains to mirror it, line for line, and blemish for blemish.

From The Poet's Poet : essays on the character and mission of the poet as interpreted in English verse of the last one hundred and fifty years by Elizabeth Atkins

The idealisation of science is simply a further development of this ideal element.

From John Dewey's logical theory by Delton Thomas Howard

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

From The Psychology of Beauty by Ethel Dench Puffer Howes