Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

curve

(Encyclopedia)curve, in mathematics, a line no part of which is straight; more generally, it is considered to be any one-dimensional collection of points, thus including the straight line as a special kind of curve...

Saxe-Gotha

(Encyclopedia)Saxe-Gotha săks-gōˈthə [key], Ger. Sachsen-Gotha, former duchy, Thuringia, central Germany. A possession of the Ernestine branch of the house of Wettin, it passed in the 16th cent. to the dukes of...

San Juan Boundary Dispute

(Encyclopedia)San Juan Boundary Dispute, controversy between the United States and Great Britain over the U.S.–British Columbia boundary. It is sometimes called the Northwest Boundary Dispute. The difficulty aros...

Tian Shan

(Encyclopedia)Tian Shan or Tien Shan both: tēĕn shän [key] [Chin.,=celestial mountains], mountain system of central Asia, extending c.1,500 mi (2,410 km) from the Pamir Mts., Tajikistan, NE through the Xinjiang ...

airfoil

(Encyclopedia)airfoil, surface designed to develop a desired force by reaction with a fluid, especially air, that is flowing across the surface. For example, the fixed wing surfaces of an airplane produce lift, whi...

Bourbon

(Encyclopedia)Bourbon bo͞orbôNˈ [key], European royal family, originally of France; a cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty (see Capetians). One branch of the Bourbons occupies the modern Spanish throne, and othe...

North Africa, campaigns in

(Encyclopedia)North Africa, campaigns in, series of military contests for control of North Africa during World War II. The desert war started in 1940 and for more than two years thereafter seesawed between NE Libya...

Kingsport

(Encyclopedia)Kingsport, city (1990 pop. 36,365), Hawkins and Sullivan counties, NE Tenn., on the Holston River near the Va. line; inc. 1917. Industries include one of the largest printing and bookbinding plants in...

Mull

(Encyclopedia)Mull, island, 351 sq mi (909 sq km), Argyll and Bute, NW Scotland, largest island of the Inner Hebrides, separated from the mainland by the Sound of Mull and the Firth of Lorn. The land is mountainous...

Furka

(Encyclopedia)Furka fo͝orˈkä [key], road, S central Switzerland, linking Uri and Valais cantons. Built (1864–66) chiefly for military reasons, it crosses Furka Pass, 7,992 ft (2,436 m) high, in the Alps. A rai...