Characteristic
Also, characteristical. pertaining to, constituting, or indicating the character or peculiar quality of a person or thing; typical; distinctive:
Red and gold are the characteristic colors of autumn.
a distinguishing feature or quality:
Generosity is his chief characteristic.
Mathematics.
the integral part of a common logarithm.
Compare mantissa.
the exponent of 10 in a number expressed in scientific notation.
the smallest positive integer n such that each element of a given ring added to itself n times results in 0.
noun
a distinguishing quality, attribute, or trait
(maths)
the integral part of a common logarithm, indicating the order of magnitude of the associated number: the characteristic of 2.4771 is 2 Compare mantissa
another name for exponent, used esp in number representation in computing
adjective
indicative of a distinctive quality, etc; typical
adjective and noun both first attested 1660s, from character + -istic on model of Greek kharakteristikos. Earlier in the adjectival sense was characteristical (1620s). Related: Characteristically (1640s). Characteristics “distinctive traits” also attested from 1660s.
characteristic char·ac·ter·is·tic (kār’ək-tə-rĭs’tĭk)
n.
See character.
char’ac·ter·is’tic adj.
characteristic
(kār’ək-tə-rĭs’tĭk)
The part of a logarithm to the base 10 that is to the left of the decimal point. For example, if 2.749 is a logarithm, 2 is the characteristic. Compare mantissa.
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