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scalar

(Encyclopedia)scalar, quantity or number possessing only sign and magnitude, e.g., the real numbers (see number), in contrast to vectors and tensors; scalars obey the rules of elementary algebra. Many physical quan...

determinant

(Encyclopedia)determinant, a polynomial expression that is inherent in the entries of a square matrix. The size n of the square matrix, as determined from the number of entries in any row or column, is called the o...

Jespersen, Otto

(Encyclopedia)Jespersen, Otto ŏˈtō yĕsˈpərsən [key], 1860–1943, Danish philologist. Professor of English language and literature at the Univ. of Copenhagen and later rector there, Jespersen first earned a ...

Black, Max

(Encyclopedia)Black, Max, 1909–88, American analytical philosopher, b. Baku, Russia (now Bakı, Azerbaijan), grad. Cambridge, Ph.D. Univ. of London, 1939. He taught at the Univ. of Illinois (1940–46) before goi...

Jehoiakim

(Encyclopedia)Jehoiakim jēhoiˈəkĭm [key], in the Bible, king of Judah, son of Josiah. On Josiah's death his son Jehoahaz became king. However, Pharaoh Neco II dethroned him and set up another of Josiah's sons, ...

Beane, Billy

(Encyclopedia)Beane, Billy (William Lamar Beane 3d), 1962–, American baseball player and general manager, b. Orlando, Fla. An outfielder with a lifetime average of .219, he had a short, unimpressive career with t...

computer program

(Encyclopedia)computer program, a series of instructions that a computer can interpret and execute; programs are also called software to distinguish them from hardware, the physical equipment used in data processin...

Eskimo-Aleut

(Encyclopedia)Eskimo-Aleut, family of Native American languages consisting of Aleut (spoken on the Aleutian Islands and the Kodiak Peninsula) and Eskimo or Inuktitut (spoken in Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Siberi...

Hawaiian

(Encyclopedia)Hawaiian, member of the Polynesian group of the Austronesian family of languages. Of the fewer than 10,000 people who speak Hawaiian, only a few hundred are native speakers, but the language is taught...

Francis II, duke of Brittany

(Encyclopedia)Francis II, 1435–88, duke of Brittany. He succeeded (1458) his uncle Arthur III. In his struggle with the French crown for the independence of his duchy, Francis entered (1465) the League of the Pub...