A number that does not divide evenly into another number, leaving a remainder (the opposite of 'aliquot').
From Latin 'aliquantus' meaning 'some, a certain amount.' The word entered English mathematics through medieval Latin, where it distinguished numbers that don't fit perfectly into divisions from those that do.
Medieval mathematicians needed this word because when you're dividing things like land or inheritance, some leftover amounts couldn't be divided equally—aliquant numbers are the mathematical version of 'leftovers you can't split fairly.'
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