Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

chord, in geometry

(Encyclopedia)chord kôrd [key], in geometry, straight line segment both end points of which lie on the circumference of a circle or other curve; it is a segment of a secant. A chord passing through the center of a...

chord, in music

(Encyclopedia)chord, in music, two or more simultaneously sounding pitches. In tonal music the fundamental chord is called the triad. It consists of three pitches, two a perfect fifth apart and a third pitch a majo...

chorus, in music

(Encyclopedia)chorus, in music, large group of singers performing in concert; a group singing liturgical music is a choir. The term chorus may also be used for a group singing or dancing together in a musical or in...

cocoa, in cooking

(Encyclopedia)cocoa: see cacao.

code, in communications

(Encyclopedia)code, in communications, set of symbols and rules for their manipulation by which the symbols can be made to carry information. By this extended definition all written and spoken languages are codes. ...

code, in law

(Encyclopedia)code, in law, in its widest sense any body of legal rules expressed in fixed and authoritative written form. A statute thus may be termed a code. Codes contrast with customary law (including common la...

ether, in chemistry

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Ethers ether, any of a number of organic compounds whose molecules contain two hydrocarbon groups joined by single bonds to an oxygen atom. The most common of these compounds is ethyl ether, C...

Europa, in astronomy

(Encyclopedia)Europa yo͝orōˈpə [key], in astronomy, one of the 39 known moons, or natural satellites, of Jupiter. Magnetic-field data collected by the space probe Galileo in 2002 strongly indicated a liquid-wat...

field, in algebra

(Encyclopedia)field, in algebra, set of elements (usually numbers) that may be combined under the operations of addition and multiplication so that it constitutes an additive group, the nonzero elements form a mult...

field, in physics

(Encyclopedia)field, in physics, region throughout which a force may be exerted; examples are the gravitational, electric, and magnetic fields that surround, respectively, masses, electric charges, and magnets. The...