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

A → quantity that remains → constant when its corresponding → physical system undergoes a → transformation.

→ conserve→ quantity.

A quantity without an associated → physical dimension. Dimensionless quantities are defined as the ratio of two quantities with the same dimension. The magnitude of such quantities is independent of the system of units used. A dimensionless quantity is not always a ratio; for instance, the number of people in a room is a dimensionless quantity. Examples include the → Alfven Mach number, → Ekman number, → Froude number, → Mach number, → Prandtl number, → Rayleigh number, → Reynolds number, → Richardson number, → Rossby number, → Toomre parameter. See also → large number.

→ dimension; → quantity.

A physical → property that can be measured and/or calculated.

→ physical; → quantity.

The property of magnitude.
An entity having magnitude, size, extent, or amount.

M.E., from rom O.Fr. quantite (Fr. quantité), from L. quantitatem (nominative quantitas), from quant(us) "how much?" + -itas, → -ity.

Candâ, candi "quantity," Mid.Pers. candih "amount, quantity," from cand "how many, how much; so many, much;" O.Pers. yāvā "as long as;" Av. yauuant- [adj.] "how great?, how much?, how many?," yauuat [adv.] "as much as, as far as;" cf. Skt. yāvant- "how big, how much;" Gk. heos "as long as, until."