An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
English-French-Persian

The main dark gap, 4,700 km wide, which divides Saturn's outermost A and B rings.

Named after Jean-Dominique Cassini (1625-1712), French astronomer of Italian origin, who discovered the division in 1675; → division.

1) The act or process of dividing; state of being divided.
Math.: An operation in which a dividend is divided by a divisor to give a quotient and a remainder.
2) Something that marks a division; a separation.

From O.Fr. division, from L. divisionem (nom. divisio), from divid-, stem of dividere "to cleave, distribute," from → dis- "apart" + -videre "to separate," from PIE base *widh- "to separate."

1) Baxš "portion, part, division," baxšidan "to divide, distribute, grant;" Mod./Mid.Pers. baxt "fortune, fate," baxtan, baxšidan "to distribute, divide," bâq "garden," initially "piece or patch of land," baq "god, lord;" Av. bag- "to attribute, allot, distribute," baxš- "to apportion, divide, give to," baxta- "what is allotted (luck, fortune)," baxədra- "part, portion," baγa- "master, god;" O.Pers. bāji- "tribute, tax;" cf. Skt. bhaj- "to share, divide, distribute, apportion," bhájati "divides," bhakta- "allotted; occupied with; a share; food or a meal, time of eating?" pitu-bháj- "enjoying food;" Gk. phagein"to eat (to have a share of food)"; PIE base *bhag- "to share out, apportion."
2) Šekâf "a fissure, crack, slit," šekâftan "to divide into two long strips, split, break," Mid.Pers. škâftan.

A symbol placed between two quantities (dividend and the divisor) to indicate the division of the first by the second. The division sign is written as a horizontal line with dot above and dot below, ÷ (→ obelus), or a slash or horizontal line.

→ division; → sign.

In arithmetic, the conventional process of division of two → integers. For a → real number a divided by b > 0, there exists a unique integer q and a real number r, 0 ≤ r <b, such that a = qb + r.

→ Euclidean; → division.

In the system of → Saturn's rings, the gap at the inner edge of the → Cassini division at a distance of 117,680 km from the center of the planet with a width of 285-400 km.

→ Huygens; → division.

In Saturn's rings, the gap between rings B and C.

Named after Bernard Lyot (1897-1952), French astronomer who discovered the division. He was also a distinguished solar observer and invented (1930) the → coronagraph; → division.

A method of dividing a polynomial in the special case of dividing by a linear factor. Synthetic division allows one to do long division problems much quicker. It is related to the → Ruffini-Horner method.

→ synthetic; → division.