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integral

 - 3 dictionary results

in⋅te⋅gral

[in-ti-gruhl, in-teg-ruhl]
–adjective
1. of, pertaining to, or belonging as a part of the whole; constituent or component: integral parts.
2. necessary to the completeness of the whole: This point is integral to his plan.
3. consisting or composed of parts that together constitute a whole.
4. entire; complete; whole: the integral works of a writer.
5. Arithmetic. pertaining to or being an integer; not fractional.
6. Mathematics. pertaining to or involving integrals.
–noun
7. an integral whole.
8. Mathematics.
a. Also called Riemann integral. the numerical measure of the area bounded above by the graph of a given function, below by the x-axis, and on the sides by ordinates drawn at the endpoints of a specified interval; the limit, as the norm of partitions of the given interval approaches zero, of the sum of the products of the function evaluated at a point in each subinterval times the length of the subinterval.
b. a primitive.
c. any of several analogous quantities. Compare improper integral, line integral, multiple integral, surface integral.

Origin:
1545–55; < ML integrālis. See integer, -al 1


in⋅te⋅gral⋅i⋅ty, noun
in⋅te⋅gral⋅ly, adverb


2. essential, indispensable, requisite.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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in·te·gral   (ĭn'tĭ-grəl, ĭn-těg'rəl)   
adj.  
  1. Essential or necessary for completeness; constituent: The kitchen is an integral part of a house.

  2. Possessing everything essential; entire.

  3. (ĭn'tĭ-grəl) Mathematics

    1. Expressed or expressible as or in terms of integers.

    2. Expressed as or involving integrals.

n.  
  1. A complete unit; a whole.

  2. (ĭn'tĭ-grəl) Mathematics

    1. A number computed by a limiting process in which the domain of a function, often an interval or planar region, is divided into arbitrarily small units, the value of the function at a point in each unit is multiplied by the linear or areal measurement of that unit, and all such products are summed.

    2. A definite integral.

    3. An indefinite integral.


[Middle English, from Old French, from Medieval Latin integrālis, making up a whole, from Latin integer, complete; see integer.]
in'te·gral'i·ty (-grāl'ĭ-tē) n., in'te·gral·ly adv.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

integral 
1471, "of or pertaining to a whole," from M.Fr. intégral (14c.), from M.L. integralis "forming a whole," from L. integer "whole" (see integer).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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