matchlock Device for igniting gunpowder, invented in the 15th cen¬ tury. The first mechanical ignition system, it represented a major advance in small-arms manufacture.
It consisted of an S-shaped arm, called a serpentine, that held a match, and a trigger device that low¬ ered the serpentine so the lighted match would fire the priming pow¬ der in the pan at the side of the bar¬ rel. The flash in the pan penetrated a small port in the breech and lit the main charge. Though slow and somewhat clumsy, the matchlock was useful because it protected all the working elements inside the lock and freed the user’s hand. Early matchlock guns included the musket.
mate or yerba mate \'ma-ta\
Stimulating tealike beverage, popu¬ lar in many South American coun¬ tries, brewed from the dried leaves of an evergreen shrub or tree ( Ilex para- guariensis ) related to holly. It con¬ tains caffeine and tannin but is less astringent than tea. To brew mate, the dried leaves (yerba) are placed in dried hollow gourds ( mates or cul- has) decorated with silver and cov¬ ered with boiling water and steeped.
The tea is sucked from the gourd with a tube, often made of silver, with a strainer at one end to catch leaf particles. Though usually served plain, mate is sometimes flavored with milk, sugar, or lemon juice. Si | ver ves5e | for the pre p aration anc j
material implication See impli- s e™ n 9 of mate ; in a private collection.
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materialism » Mathewson I 1211
materialism In metaphysics, the doctrine that all of reality is essentially of the nature of matter. In the philosophy of mind, one form of material¬ ism, sometimes called central-state materialism, asserts that states of the mind are identical to states of the human brain. In order to account for the possible existence of mental states in creatures that do not share the human nervous system (e.g., octopuses and Martians), proponents of func¬ tionalism identified particular mental states with the functional or causal roles those states play with respect to other physical and mental states of the organism; this allows for the “multiple realizability” of the same men¬ tal state in different physical states. (Strictly speaking, functionalism is compatible with both materialism and non-materialism, though most func¬ tionalists are materialists.) As a form of materialism, functionalism is “nonreductive,” because it holds that mental states cannot be completely explained in terms that refer only to what is physical. Though not iden¬ tical with physical states, mental states are said to “supervene” on them, in the sense that there can be no change in the former without some change in the latter. “Eliminative” materialism rejects any aspect of the mental that cannot be explained wholly in physical terms; in particular, it denies the existence of the familiar categories of mental state presupposed in folk psychology. See also identity theory; mind-body problem.
materials science Study of the properties of solid materials and how those properties are determined by the material’s composition and struc¬ ture, both macroscopic and microscopic. Materials science grew out of solid-state physics, metallurgy, ceramics, and chemistry, since the numer¬ ous properties of materials cannot be understood within the context of any single discipline. With a basic understanding of the origins of prop¬ erties, materials can be selected or designed for an enormous variety of applications, from structural steels to computer microchips. Materials sci¬ ence is therefore important to many engineering fields, including electron¬ ics, aerospace, telecommunications, information processing, nuclear power, and energy conversion. See also mechanics, metallography, strength OF MATERIALS, TESTING MACHINE.
mathematical physics Branch of mathematical analysis that empha¬ sizes tools and techniques of particular use to physicists and engineers. It focuses on vector spaces, matrix algebra, differential equations (especially for boundary value problems), integral equations, integral transforms, infi¬ nite series, and complex variables. Its approach can be tailored to applica¬ tions in electromagnetism, classical mechanics, and quantum mechanics.
mathematical programming Application of mathematical and computer programming techniques to the construction of deterministic models, principally for business and economics. For models that only require linear algebraic equations, the techniques are called linear pro¬ gramming; for models that require more complex equations, it is called nonlinear programming. In either case, models frequently involve hun¬ dreds or thousands of equations. The discipline emerged during World War II to solve large-scale military logistics problems. Mathematical pro¬ gramming is also used in planning civilian production and transportation schedules and in calculating economic growth.
mathematics Science of structure, order, and relation that has evolved from counting, measuring, and describing the shapes of objects. It deals with logical reasoning and quantitative calculation. Since the 17th cen¬ tury it has been an indispensable adjunct to the physical sciences and technology, to the extent that it is considered the underlying language of science. Among the principal branches of mathematics are algebra, analy¬ sis, arithmetic, combinatorics, Euclidean and non-Euclidean geometries, game
THEORY, NUMBER THEORY, NUMERICAL ANALYSIS, OPTIMIZATION, PROBABILITY, SET THEORY, STATISTICS, TOPOLOGY, and TRIGONOMETRY.
mathematics, foundations of Scientific inquiry into the nature of mathematical theories and the scope of mathematical methods. It began with Euclid’s Elements as an inquiry into the logical and philosophical basis of mathematics—in essence, whether the axioms of any system (be it Euclid¬ ean geometry or calculus) can ensure its completeness and consistency. In the modern era, this debate for a time divided into three schools of thought: logicism, formalism, and intuitionism. Logicists supposed that abstract math¬ ematical objects can be entirely developed starting from basic ideas of sets and rational, or logical, thought; a variant of logicism, known as math¬ ematical Platonism, views these objects as existing external to and indepen¬ dent of an observer. Formalists believed mathematics to be the manipulation of configurations of symbols according to prescribed rules, a “game” independent of any physical interpretation of the symbols. Intu- itionists rejected certain concepts of logic and the notion that the axiomatic
method would suffice to explain all of mathematics, instead seeing math¬ ematics as an intellectual activity dealing with mental constructions (see constructivism) independent of language and any external reality. In the 20th century, Godel's theorem ended any hope of finding an axiomatic basis of mathematics that was both complete and free from contradictions.
mathematics, philosophy of Branch of philosophy concerned with the epistemology and ontology of mathematics. Early in the 20th century, three main schools of thought—called logicism, formalism, and intuitionism —arose to account for and resolve the crisis in the foundations of mathematics. Logicism argues that all mathematical notions are reduc¬ ible to laws of pure thought, or logical principles; a variant known as math¬ ematical Platonism holds that mathematical notions are transcendent Ideals, or Forms, independent of human consciousness. Formalism holds that mathematics consists simply of the manipulation of finite configurations of symbols according to prescribed rules; a “game” independent of any physi¬ cal interpretation of the symbols. Intuitionism is characterized by its rejec¬ tion of any knowledge- or evidence-transcendent notion of truth. Hence, only objects that can be constructed (see constructivism) in a finite number of steps are admitted, while actual infinities and the law of the excluded middle (see laws of thought) are rejected. These three schools of thought were principally led, respectively, by Bertrand Russell, David Hilbert, and the Dutch mathematician Luitzen Egbertus Jan Brouwer (1881-1966).