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What is "approximation"

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approximation
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
approximation
noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
close
▪ With individual voices chosen from the sound-card a reasonably close approximation to the a performance can be produced.
▪ A close approximation to these conditions has been attained by Mandelkern, who annealed a linear polyethylene for 40 days.
▪ You only need to type in a close approximation of the word and leave it to the spell-checker to sort out.
crude
▪ Although it is sometimes simulated by looking through a peephole, this gives only a crude approximation of the condition.
▪ Even at best this is a rather crude approximation.
good
▪ This is a good first approximation of the concept of the transnational capitalist class that I want to develop.
▪ This recipe is a good approximation and a whole lot easier to accomplish.
▪ A number of backing off formulae are possible which aim to provide the best approximations to the probability of the transitions.
reasonable
▪ There are reasonable approximations of bicarbonate and alkali secretion for each subject on separate occasions.
▪ In the absence of such precision, reasonable approximations may be considered.
▪ Therefore, as a reasonable approximation, you can neglect the extra oxygen that plants consume at night.
▪ Some of the errors introduced will cancel one another out and the answer we get will still be a reasonable approximation.
▪ This is acceptable only if it can be demonstrated that the method gives a reasonable approximation of the actual cost.
rough
▪ For a long time, this was sufficient justification for Friedmann's assumption - as a rough approximation to the real universe.
▪ But as a very rough approximation, avoiding pain and courting pleasure is indeed the way we act.
▪ Neither could these illustrations just be rough approximations of the finished articles.
▪ However, by making some assumptions, a rough approximation of public expenditure saving can be reached.
■ VERB
make
▪ Cowan makes a number of approximations in order to make his theory manageable.
▪ The way in which one would normally try to compute the behaviour of such a world would be to make some approximation.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Five thousand dollars seems to be a reasonable approximation of the actual cost.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Although it is sometimes simulated by looking through a peephole, this gives only a crude approximation of the condition.
▪ As with the others, it was complicated by numerous irregularities, approximations, and ornate embellishments in the park.
▪ For a long time, this was sufficient justification for Friedmann's assumption - as a rough approximation to the real universe.
▪ If the first shape is a series of rough-hewed approximations, the second is a shiny patchwork of beautifully stitched leather cut-outs.
▪ The way in which one would normally try to compute the behaviour of such a world would be to make some approximation.
▪ There are reasonable approximations of bicarbonate and alkali secretion for each subject on separate occasions.
▪ We live in a system of approximations.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Approximation

Approximation \Ap*prox`i*ma"tion\ n. [Cf. F. approximation, LL. approximatio.]

  1. The act of approximating; a drawing, advancing or being near; approach; also, the result of approximating.

    The largest capacity and the most noble dispositions are but an approximation to the proper standard and true symmetry of human nature.
    --I. Taylor.

  2. An approach to a correct estimate, calculation, or conception, or to a given quantity, quality, etc.

  3. (Math.)

    1. A continual approach or coming nearer to a result; as, to solve an equation by approximation.

    2. A value that is nearly but not exactly correct.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
approximation

early 15c., "act of coming near or close," noun of action from approximate (v.). Meaning "result of approximating" is from 1650s.

Wiktionary
approximation

n. 1 The act, process or result of approximate. 2 (context mathematics English) An imprecise solution or result that is adequate for a defined purpose. 3 (context medicine English) The act of bringing together the edges of tissue to be sutured.

Related phrases:
WordNet
approximation

  1. n. an approximate calculation of quantity or degree or worth; "an estimate of what it would cost"; "a rough idea how long it would take" [syn: estimate, estimation, idea]

  2. the quality of coming near to identity (especially close in quantity)

  3. an imprecise or incomplete account; "newspapers gave only an approximation of the actual events"

  4. the act of bringing near or bringing together especially the cut edges of tissue [syn: bringing close together]

Wikipedia
Approximation

An approximation is anything that is similar but not exactly equal to something else.

Related phrases:

Usage examples of "approximation".

Expedited Analysis, Kelly-Holmes Approximation Method: Subject does not possess and does not believe in the Search Object.

The torsion or rotation of leaves and leaflets, which occurs in so many cases, apparently always serves to bring their upper surfaces into close approximation with one another, or with other parts of the plant, for their mutual protection.

But one cannot conceive that even in this way any approximation could have been made, even in these old medieval days, towards a fair proportioning of the pay to the work.

At any rate, it is clear enough that there is no such approximation now.

And what a screech would there not be among the clergy of the Church, even in these reforming days, if any over-bold reformer were to suggest that such an approximation should be attempted?

Oriental adversary and turning it into at least an approximation of an acceptable, healthy, westernized nation.

Uncle Sam was called to fight for humanity, and only an approximation of the condition can be made, for about two-thirds of the National Guard had been taken into the regular service incident to the trouble with Mexico, when the Guardsmen were summoned to the border to protect the country, and recruiting was proceeding in all branches of the service to bring all the regiments up to a war footing.

A portion of an L-shaped cluster west of this row, and a small row near it parallel to the main building, form a rude approximation to the inclosed court arrangement.

White Tower nor any Ajah has ever made their numbers known, rough approximations of size are possible with respect to the Ajahs.

Happily, there are tables and good approximations which can be used to shorten these calculations.

Such things are never more than rough approximations, matters of convenience.

Just as he could input, store and recite the successive approximations for figuring out where and when to launch radio-transmitter-tagged asteroids toward the nearest mining ship, or toward the Moon itself, once Lawler and Garrick used their computers to calculate those approximations, then transmitted the figures to him in his cabin.

Thanks to the effect of various gravities working on both the target sitebe it another ship, the Moon, or whereverand the ship launching the asteroid toward the target site, elliptical orbits and ever-changing flight times, successive approximations were the backbone of the asteroid-mining industry.

Dalton received the successive approximations for the upcoming asteroid boost directly from Kevan and Sloan, rather than via a message on his in-cabin laptop.

As there was a necessity for reconciling this stubborn fact with the theory, his followers have made up the deficiency by resorting to the tangential force, or, as Clairant proposed, by continuing the approximations to terms of a higher order, or to the square of the disturbing force.