Shortened, reduced, or truncated in length or duration.
From Latin curtatus, past participle of curtare (to shorten), derived from curtus (short). Used primarily in technical and astronomical contexts to describe shortened calculations or cycles.
In medieval astronomy, a 'curtate distance' was a mathematical shortcut—astronomers realized they could simplify their calculations by ignoring certain small values, creating the first 'good enough' approximations in mathematics!
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