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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...

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...

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 ...

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...

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...

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...

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...

North Attleboro

(Encyclopedia)North Attleboro ăˈtəlbərə [key], industrial town (1990 pop. 25,038), Bristol co., SE Mass., near the R.I. line; settled 1669, set off from Attleboro and inc. 1887. Jewelry has been made there sin...