Estimates or calculations that are close to but not exactly accurate. Mathematical or practical approaches that provide reasonably close values when exact precision is unnecessary or impossible.
From Latin 'approximare', meaning 'to come near to', composed of 'ad-' (to) and 'proximus' (nearest). The word entered English in the 17th century as mathematics and science required terms for calculated estimates.
Approximations are fundamental to how humans understand the world – we constantly make mental estimates rather than exact calculations, from judging distances to estimating time. Paradoxically, many of our most sophisticated scientific achievements, from space missions to weather prediction, rely on approximations because exact calculations would be impossible or unnecessary.
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