GLOSSARY OF MATH TERMS
ALGEBRA AND GEOMETRY
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| Word | Definition | Examples |
| Natural logarithm | y = ln x is the natural log or logarithm to the base e or y = loge x |
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| Natural logarithmic function | A function with a natural logarithm expression. | |
| Natural number | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, ... |
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| Negation | The opposite of a statement. If p then ~p means if p then not p. |  |
| Negative square root | The opposite root to the principal root of the square root. |
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| Net | Any two dimensional pattern that when folded generates a 3-D figure. | |
| Normal distribution | A shape bell symmetric figure that has around 68% of the data within one standard deviation from the mean; 95% within two standard deviations from the mean, and 99% within three standard deviations from the mean. | |
| Nth root | For any x and y being real numbers and n a positive integer; then having xn=y has x as the nth root of y. |
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| Objective function | It is the optimization function in linear programming (the one to maximize or to minimize) |
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| Oblique triangle | Any triangle that is not a right triangle | |
| Observational data | Data gathered from something that we see is taking place. | |
| Obtuse angle | An angle whose measure is between 90 and 180 degrees |
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| Obtuse triangle | A triangle with one obtuse angle |
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| Odd Function | A function graph passing through the origin and for which the axis of symmetry is both the x-axis and the y-axis. | y = 5x3 |
| Odd number | Any number with a remainder after being divided by 2. Algebraically may be represented by 2n + 1. | |
| One-to-one function | A relation for which one element of the domain is paired with exactly one element in the range and vice versa. | y = 4x – 7 is one-to-one function. |
| Operation |
Any action we perform on one or two numbers to produce a new number. Most common ones are addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, square roots, powers, and so on. |
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| Opposites | Numbers that when added yield 0. They are the same distance from 0 in the number line. |
+ 6 and - 6 are opposites: 6 + -6 = 0 |
| Opposite rays | Two collinear rays with the same endpoint and forming a straight line. | |
| Order of operations |
1. Perform first all operations within grouping symbols such as parentheses, absolute values, radicals, numerator or denominator of complex fractions. 2. Do the exponents 3. Multiply and divide going from left to right 4. Add and subtract going from left to right |
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| Ordered numbers | Arrangement of numbers from smallest to largest or from largest to smallest. | 8 < 9 < 10 10 > 9 > 8 |
| Ordered pair | In a coordinate plane is the location of a point. |
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| Ordered triples | Any of the points determined by the coordinates (x,y,z) in the coordinate space. | (3,2,7) |
| Ordering angles by sides in a triangle | The longest side of a triangle is opposite to the greatest angle, and the shortest side is opposite to the least angle; then is possible to order the angles, if we know the sides. |
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| Ordering sides by angles in a triangle. | The longest side of a triangle is opposite to the greatest angle, and the shortest side is opposite to the least angle; then is possible to order the sides, if we know the angles. |
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| Origin | The location where the two perpendicular number lines that form the coordinate plane intersect. | 
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| Orthocenter of a triangle | The point of intersection of the lines containing the altitudes of a triangle. | |
| Orthographic drawing | In a 3-D (three dimensional) representation of an object is when we show a separate drawing for the front, top and right side views. |
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| Outcomes | The possible results of a probability experiment |
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| Outlier | Any value located at or more than 1.5 interquartile ranges beyond the upper and lower quartiles. | |
| Parabola | The u curved shape you get when graphing a quadratic equation. |
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| Parallel lines |
Lines with the same slope |
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| Parallel lines | Lines on the same plane that never cross. | 
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| Parallel lines cutting transversals. | Parallel lines that cut transversals produce proportional segments. |
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| Parallel planes | Two planes that don't intersect. | 
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| Parallelogram | Any quadrilateral with two pairs of opposite sides parallel. |
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| Pascal's Triangle | A pattern made in the shape of a pyramid finding the coefficients of the terms generated by a binomial expansion. It is used in probability as well. |
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| Percent % | A part or portion of 100 | .56 = 56/100 = 56% |
| Percentile | A percentile is the value that divides the range of data in two parts, in a way that the part below the percentile contains a given percent of data. | |
| Perfect square trinomial | A trinomial generated by the product of two equal binomials. | (a+b)(a+b) = a2 + 2ab + b2 |
| Perfect squares | Numbers which have square roots that are rational numbers. | 1/25, 1/36, 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 64, 81 |
| Perimeter (polygons) | The perimeter of a polygon is the sum of the lengths of all its sides. |
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| Perpendicular bisector | Any line, ray or segment perpendicular to another line segment at the midpoint. |
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| Perpendicular lines (coordinate plane) | Lines that intersect or cross at right angles. Multiplying the slopes of perpendicular lines always yield -1. |
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| Perpendicular lines. | Lines that intersect or cross at right angles. | 
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| Perpendicular planes | Two planes that intersect in a right angle. | 
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| Pie Graph | A graph that represents data proportionally to the area of central angles in a circle. |
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| Pi Π π | Greek letter used in geometry to represent the ratio of the circumference to the diameter and whose value is approx. 3.1416 (irrational number) | |
| Plane | A flat surface (with no thickness at all) that cuts the whole space in two congruent parts, extending in all directions. |
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| Point | Indicates a location in space and has no size. It is represented by a dot and usually labeled with uppercase letters. It is uniquely identified by a set of coordinates (x,y) in the plane, and (x,y,z) in the space. | |
| Point of concurrency | The point where lines or line segments intersect. | |
| Point of discontinuity | In a rational function are those values in the domain where a rational equation gets a denominator zero (not defined), and they appear in the graph of the function as a gap. | |
| Point of tangency | The point where a tangent line intersects the circumference of a circle. | |
| Point symmetry | It is the type of symmetry in which a rotation of 180° of a figure; maps it onto itself. | |
| Polygon | It is a closed plane figure with a least three straight segments as sides. |
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| Polygon classification | Polygons are classify by the number of sides. |
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| Polynomial | A algebraic statement with one or more terms. Word comes from “poly” which means many. |
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| Polynomial (third degree): Geometric representation. | A third degree polynomial may be represented as the volume of a rectangular prism for which length, width and depth are the linear factors of the polynomial. |
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| Polynomial function | A function containing a polynomial expression in its equation. P(x) = anxn + an-1xn-1 +...+ a1x + a0 when n is nonnegative and coefficients an ...a0 are real numbers. | |
| Postulate | An accepted statement that doesn’t need to be proven to be used in a proof. | |
| Power | Exponent of a number or variable. | x6 is x to the sixth power, 57 is 5 to the seventh power |
| Preimage | The original figure in a transformation. | |
| Principal root | Given a number with two roots, the positive root is the principal and its given by the radical sign. |
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| Prism | It is a polyhedron that has two congruent and parallel faces, called bases. The remaining faces, which are parallelograms are called lateral faces. The altitude is the perpendicular segment whose endpoints are at the bases. The length of the altitude is the height of the prism. A right prism is one with all lateral faces rectangles. An oblique rectangle has some lateral faces to be nonrectangular. |
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| Prism classification | Prism are classify by the polygon at their bases. |
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| Prism: Surface area and volume | Surface area in a prism is the sum of all the areas for the bases and the faces. The volume is the amount of cubic units it may hold inside. |
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| Probability | The possibility of an event to happen. The probability of getting an even number when rolling a 6 sided dice is 50%. |
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| Probability distribution | A probability distribution is a function that indicates the probability we have for each outcome in a sample space. | |
| Properties | Statements that have been proven to be true and may be used in deductive reasoning to prove a given statement. | |
| Proportion | Statement that equals two ratios or factions. |
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| Proportionality (angle bisector) | In similar triangles angle bisectors are proportional to the sides. |
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| Proportionality (altitudes) | In similar triangles the altitudes are proportional to the sides. |
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| Proportionality (medians) | In similar triangles the medians are proportional to the sides. |
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| Proportionality (perimeters) | In similar triangles the perimeters are proportional to the sides. |
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| Protractor | A tool used to measure the size of a given angle in degrees. |
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| Pure imaginary number | Any complex number of the form a + bi for which a = 0 and b is different from zero. |
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| Pyramid | It is a polyhedron whose base is a polygon and whose lateral faces are triangles with a common vertex called the vertex of the pyramid. The perpendicular segment whose endpoints are at the base and at the vertex of the pyramid is the altitude, which is the height of the pyramid. A regular pyramid has congruent isosceles triangles in the lateral faces and a regular polygon in the base. The length of the height for the lateral triangles is the slant height for the pyramid. |
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| Pyramid classification | Pyramids are classify by the polygon at their bases. |
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| Pythagorean theorem | Applies only to right triangles. The square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the square of the two legs. |
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| Pythagorean triple | Any set of three whole numbers that satisfy the Pythagorean Theorem equation: x2 + y2 = z2 | 13, 12, 5 |
| Quadrants | The four congruent areas in which a coordinate plane is divided by the perpendicular number lines that are the x-axis and y-axis. Quadrants are labeled I, II, III and IV. |
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| Quadratic equation |
An equation of the form ax2 + bx + c = 0 where a, b, and c are real numbers and a is different from zero. |
6x2 – 7x – 9 = 0 |
| Quadratic formula | If ax2 + bx + c = and a is different from zero then the quadratic formula is given in terms of a, b, and c. |
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| Quadratic function |
Any function in the form of f(x) = ax2 + bx + c where a is different from zero. The graph is a parabola and the largest exponent is 2. |
f(x) = 5x2 + 4x – 3 |
| Quadrilateral | A polygon with four sides and four angles. |
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| Quartiles | The quartiles separate a given set of finite data into four equal parts, called Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4, where Q2 second quartile is the median of the data. Q1 and Q3 are the medians of the lower and upper haves of the data. | |
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