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colophon
colophon [Gr.,=finishing stroke]. Before the use of printing in Western Europe a manuscript often ended with a statement about the author, the scribe, or the illuminator. The first printed book to have a comparable concluding statement was the Mainz Psalter, crediting the printer and giving the dat...
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axiom
axiom in mathematics and logic, general statement accepted without proof as the basis for logically deducing other statements (theorems). Examples of axioms used widely in mathematics are those related to equality (e.g., "Two things equal to the same thing are equal to each other" ; "If equa...
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Nicene Creed
Nicene Creed a formal statement of Christian belief which is very widely used in Christian liturgies, based on that adopted at the first Council of Nicaea in 325....
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Miranda v. Arizona
Miranda v. Arizona U.S. Supreme Court case (1966) in the area of due process of law (see Fourteenth Amendment ). The decision reversed an Arizona court's conviction of Ernesto Miranda on kidnapping and rape charges. Identified in a police lineup, Miranda had been questioned, had confessed, and had...
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New York Times Company v. Sullivan
New York Times Company v. Sullivan case decided in 1964 by the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1960, the Times ran a fundraising advertisement signed by civil-rights leaders that criticized, among other things, certain actions of the Montgomery, Ala., police department. Some of the facts in the advertisem...
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inequality
inequality in mathematics, statement that a mathematical expression is less than or greater than some other expression; an inequality is not as specific as an equation , but it does contain information about the expressions involved. The symbols < (less than), > (greater than), ≤ (less th...
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Aristarchus of Samos
Aristarchus of Samos , fl. c.310 BC-c.230 BC, Greek astronomer and mathematician of the Alexandrian school. He is said to have been the first to propose a heliocentric or sun-centered theory of the universe. Of his writings only a treatise, The Sizes and Distances of the Sun and Moon, remains. The...
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Athanasian Creed
Athanasian Creed , exact, elaborate Roman Catholic statement on the Trinity and the Incarnation. It is no longer believed to have been written by Athanasius, but rather by an unknown Western author of the 6th cent. An English translation appears in the English Book of Common Prayer. It is sometimes ...
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litotes
litotes , figure of speech in which a statement is made by indicating the negative of its opposite, e.g., "not many" meaning "a few." A form of irony , litotes is meant to emphasize by understating. Its opposite is hyperbole .
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perjury
perjury , in criminal law, the act of willfully and knowingly stating a falsehood under oath or under affirmation in judicial or administrative proceedings. If the person accused of perjury had any probable cause for his belief that the statement he made was true, then he is not guilty of perjury. I...
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