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The absolute value of a number may be thought of as its distance from zero. In mathematics, the absolute value or modulus of a real number , denoted , is the non-negative value of without regard to its sign. Namely, if is a positive number, and if is negative (in which case negating makes positive), and . For example, the absolute value of 3 is ...
Approximations for the mathematical constant pi (π) in the history of mathematics reached an accuracy within 0.04% of the true value before the beginning of the Common Era. In Chinese mathematics , this was improved to approximations correct to what corresponds to about seven decimal digits by the 5th century.
The standard absolute value on the integers. The standard absolute value on the complex numbers.; The p-adic absolute value on the rational numbers.; If R is the field of rational functions over a field F and () is a fixed irreducible polynomial over F, then the following defines an absolute value on R: for () in R define | | to be , where () = () and ((), ()) = = ((), ()).
With a correct value for its seven first decimal digits, this value remained the most accurate approximation of π available for the next 800 years. [55] The Indian astronomer Aryabhata used a value of 3.1416 in his Āryabhaṭīya (499 AD). [56] Fibonacci in c. 1220 computed 3.1418 using a polygonal method, independent of Archimedes. [57]
The complex numbers of absolute value one form the unit circle. Adding a fixed complex number to all complex numbers defines a translation in the complex plane, and multiplying by a fixed complex number is a similarity centered at the origin (dilating by the absolute
v. t. e. Positional notation (or place-value notation, or positional monkey numeral system) usually denotes the extension to any base of the Hindu–Arabic numeral system (or decimal system). More generally, a positional system is a numeral system in which the contribution of a digit to the value of a number is the value of the digit multiplied ...
A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime because the only ways of writing it as a product, 1 × 5 or 5 × 1, involve 5 itself. However, 4 is composite because it is a ...
The history of mathematics deals with the origin of discoveries in mathematics and the mathematical methods and notation of the past. Before the modern age and the worldwide spread of knowledge, written examples of new mathematical developments have come to light only in a few locales. From 3000 BC the Mesopotamian states of Sumer, Akkad and ...