From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
differential \dif`fer*en"tial\, a. [Cf. F. diff['e]rentiel.]
1. Relating to or indicating a difference; creating a
difference; discriminating; special; as, differential
characteristics; differential duties; a differential rate.
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For whom he produced differential favors. --Motley.
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2. (Math.) Of or pertaining to a differential, or to
differentials.
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3. (Mech.) Relating to differences of motion or leverage;
producing effects by such differences; said of mechanism.
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{Differential calculus}. (Math.) See under {Calculus}.
{Differential coefficient}, the limit of the ratio of the
increment of a function of a variable to the increment of
the variable itself, when these increments are made
indefinitely small.
{Differential coupling}, a form of slip coupling used in
light machinery to regulate at pleasure the velocity of
the connected shaft.
{Differential duties} (Polit. Econ.), duties which are not
imposed equally upon the same products imported from
different countries.
{Differential galvanometer} (Elec.), a galvanometer having
two coils or circuits, usually equal, through which
currents passing in opposite directions are measured by
the difference of their effect upon the needle.
{Differential gearing}, a train of toothed wheels, usually an
epicyclic train, so arranged as to constitute a
{differential motion}.
{Differential motion}, a mechanism in which a simple
differential combination produces such a change of motion
or force as would, with ordinary compound arrangements,
require a considerable train of parts. It is used for
overcoming great resistance or producing very slow or very
rapid motion.
{Differential pulley}. (Mach.)
(a) A portable hoisting apparatus, the same in principle
as the differential windlass.
(b) A hoisting pulley to which power is applied through a
differential gearing.
{Differential screw}, a compound screw by which a motion is
produced equal to the difference of the motions of the
component screws.
{Differential thermometer}, a thermometer usually with a
U-shaped tube terminating in two air bulbs, and containing
a colored liquid, used for indicating the difference
between the temperatures to which the two bulbs are
exposed, by the change of position of the colored fluid,
in consequence of the different expansions of the air in
the bulbs. A graduated scale is attached to one leg of the
tube.
{Differential windlass}, or {Chinese windlass}, a windlass
whose barrel has two parts of different diameters. The
hoisting rope winds upon one part as it unwinds from the
other, and a pulley sustaining the weight to be lifted
hangs in the bight of the rope. It is an ancient example
of a differential motion.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Calculus \Cal"cu*lus\, n.; pl. {Calculi}. [L, calculus. See
{Calculate}, and {Calcule}.]
1. (Med.) Any solid concretion, formed in any part of the
body, but most frequent in the organs that act as
reservoirs, and in the passages connected with them; as,
biliary calculi; urinary calculi, etc.
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2. (Math.) A method of computation; any process of reasoning
by the use of symbols; any branch of mathematics that may
involve calculation.
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{Barycentric calculus}, a method of treating geometry by
defining a point as the center of gravity of certain other
points to which co["e]fficients or weights are ascribed.
{Calculus of functions}, that branch of mathematics which
treats of the forms of functions that shall satisfy given
conditions.
{Calculus of operations}, that branch of mathematical logic
that treats of all operations that satisfy given
conditions.
{Calculus of probabilities}, the science that treats of the
computation of the probabilities of events, or the
application of numbers to chance.
{Calculus of variations}, a branch of mathematics in which
the laws of dependence which bind the variable quantities
together are themselves subject to change.
{Differential calculus}, a method of investigating
mathematical questions by using the ratio of certain
indefinitely small quantities called differentials. The
problems are primarily of this form: to find how the
change in some variable quantity alters at each instant
the value of a quantity dependent upon it.
{Exponential calculus}, that part of algebra which treats of
exponents.
{Imaginary calculus}, a method of investigating the relations
of real or imaginary quantities by the use of the
imaginary symbols and quantities of algebra.
{Integral calculus}, a method which in the reverse of the
differential, the primary object of which is to learn from
the known ratio of the indefinitely small changes of two
or more magnitudes, the relation of the magnitudes
themselves, or, in other words, from having the
differential of an algebraic expression to find the
expression itself.
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From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
differential calculus
n 1: the part of calculus that deals with the variation of a
function with respect to changes in the independent
variable (or variables) by means of the concepts of
derivative and differential [syn: {differential calculus},
{method of fluxions}]
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