formula

1. Maths physics a general relationship, principle, or rule stated, often as an equation, in the form of symbols

2. Chem a representation of molecules, radicals, ions, etc., expressed in the symbols of the atoms of their constituent elements

a. a prescription for making up a medicine, baby's food, etc.

b. a substance prepared according to such a prescription

4. Motor racing the specific category in which a particular type of car competes, judged according to engine size, weight, and fuel capacity

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

formula

[′fȯr·myə·lə]

(chemistry)

A combination of chemical symbols that expresses a molecule's composition.

A reaction formula showing the interrelationship between reactants and products.

(mathematics)

An equation or rule relating mathematical objects or quantities.

formula

(1)

In logic, a sequence of symbols representing terms, predicates, connectives and quantifiers which is either true or false.

formula

(language, music)

FORTH Music Language. An extension of FORTH with concurrent note-playing processes. Runs on Macintosh and Atari ST with MIDI output.

["Formula: A Programming Language for Expressive Computer Music", D.P. Anderson et al Computer 24(7):12 (Jul 1991)].

formula

(3)

Preprocessor language for the Acorn Archimedes, allowing inline high-level statements to be entered in an assembly program. Written in nawk.

This article is provided by FOLDOC - Free Online Dictionary of Computing (foldoc.org)

formula

(1) An arithmetic expression that solves a problem. For example, (fahrenheit-32)*5/9 is the formula for converting Fahrenheit to Celsius. See formula editor.

(2) In spreadsheets, an algorithm that identifies how the data in a specific number of cells is to be calculated. For example, +C3*D8 means that the contents of cell C3 are to be multiplied by the contents of cell D8 and the results are to be placed in the cell where the formula is located.

Copyright © 1981-2025 by The Computer Language Company Inc. All Rights reserved. THIS DEFINITION IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY. All other reproduction is strictly prohibited without permission from the publisher.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Formula

in mathematics, a combination of mathematical symbols that expresses some statement.

Examples of formulas are

It can be seen from these examples that formulas permit rather complicated statements to be written in a compact and convenient form (seeMATHEMATICAL SYMBOLS).

Some formulas—such as (2), (4), and (6) above—express well-defined specific statements and therefore are either true or false. Of these three examples, (2) and (6) are true, and (4) is false.

The sense of other formulas—such as (1), (3), (5), (7), and (8) above—depends on the values of the variables they contain. For example, (1) becomes the true formula 1³ + 2³ < 19 when x = 1, y = 2, and z = 19; on the other hand, if x = 3, y = 4, and z = 5, we have the false formula 3³ + 4³ < 5. Formulas of this type may thus be understood as not being intrinsically true or false. Rather, they become true or false when the variables are replaced by specific objects from some previously chosen domain.

Formulas that are true under any replacement of the variables by objects in some domain are said to be identically true in the domain. For example, formula (5) is identically true in the domain of complex numbers, and formula (8) is identically true in the domain of twice continuously differentiable functions of the arguments x and y. Mathematical laws are written by means of formulas that are true, such as (2) and (6), or identically true in some domain, such as (5) and (8). Moreover, identically true formulas are often understood as assertions with universal validity. For example, the most widely held interpretation of formula (5) considers it to be a shorthand form of the assertion “For any numbers a and b the equality (a + b)² = a² + 2ab + b² holds.”

Formula

in chemistry, a representation of the composition of chemically individual substances by means of chemical symbols and numbers. Chemical formulas generally have the form A_m B_n C_p . . . . A, B, C, . . . represent the atoms of the chemical elements that make up a given substance, while m, n, p, . . . are numbers, usually integers, that indicate how many atoms of each element are contained in a given substance. (In the chemical formulas of nonstoichiometric compounds, the numbers may be fractions.)

To determine the formula of a substance it is necessary to find the quantitative composition of the substance in percent by weight, replace the percent content by weight with ratios between the numbers of atoms, and represent these ratios by integers. For example, an analysis of copper pyrite yields 34.64 percent Cu by weight, 30.42 percent Fe, and 34.94 percent S. Dividing these numbers by the atomic weights of Cu (63.55), Fe (55.85), and S (32.06), we obtain 0.545, 0.545, and 1.090, respectively. These numbers have the ratio 1:1:2, from which we obtain the formula for copper pyrite—CuFeS₂.

The formulas obtained directly from the results of a quantitative analysis are called empirical, or simplest, formulas. In order to establish the molecular formula of a substance, it is necessary to determine the molecular weight of the substance. If this is not possible, only the empirical formula can be used. The empirical formula contains information only about the quantitative composition of a substance. Molecular formulas include additional information about the actual number of atoms of each element per mole of a substance and, if the substance can be converted into a gas, about the weight of one liter of the gas as well.

Structural formulas represent the interatomic bonds in molecules.

REFERENCE

Nekrasov, B. V. Osnovy obshchei khimii, vol. 1, 3rd ed. Moscow, 1973.

S. A. POGODIN

Mentioned in

References in periodicals archive

Lacking dulcet gavottes, sweeping operas, and heroic symphonies to formulaically compose, our musically creative contemporaries, it seems, are stuck in the ruts of novelty and noise, including that which causes neurophysical pain, making one nostalgic for a little night music.

A little brain surgery: sonic festival

When present in teacher education programs, this positivist attitude would essentially eliminate the moral, epistemic, and political complexity that one observes in relationships between persons and institutions in the learning environment, and instead conceive of the teacher as an operator who executes tasks and procedures formulaically. If realized to its perfection this approach to teaching represents a shortcut to thinking, avoiding crucial pedagogical judgments, and denying the complexity of intentions and interests that arises when educative relationships and institutions are constituted.

Teaching Practitioners about Theory and Practice: A Proposal to Recover Aristotle in Teacher Education

Brendan Fraser plays a Yank who crosses the Atlantic, fleeing one organized-crime scrape and running right into another, in "Whole Lotta Sole." Change-of-pace comedy for director/co-scenarist Terry George starts pleasantly if formulaically enough, then loses its grip amid a series of plot contrivances that mix uninspired broad humor with melodramatic and sentimental elements.

Whole Lotta Sole

Delius' music was not broadly or formulaically Oriental but, rather, sensitive to the distinctions and subtleties of the piece.

"Hassan: Iraq on the British stage"

One can track this throughout the novel not by scrutinizing the formulaically inevitable union of Jordan and Maria, but by focusing on Pilar, the keeper of the food, the keeper of culture, and the arbiter of what is right and civilized in this home-like den of a cave.

The consolation of critique: food, culture, and civilization in Ernest Hemingway

Champion claims, somewhat formulaically, the inherent contradictions of Shakespeare's plays "usually ...

No ideology without psychology: the emotional effects of Shakespeare's Henry V

Lower level executives' bonus increases were typically higher than those for C-suite executives as a result of their bonuses generally being more formulaically weighted towards individual and business unit performance, while the bonus payouts for C-suite executives were heavily weighted toward overall corporate performance, including earnings and stock price performance.

Healthcare, multifamily at top of heap as REIT compensation rises

Sometimes we see a bureaucratic or cookie cutter approach where risks are periodically weighed formulaically. That does not serve the organization well.

The Commercially Attuned CFO

the annual payment line, and that those payments are subject to indexation and possible periodic reviews, where the cost of delivering the underlying services is re-examined and payments are formulaically adjusted).

Public-private partnerships for promotion of cross-border trade and transportation

In respectable academic journals, scholars are repeating formulaically and fearlessly without expectation of rebuttal that the state should not recognize or respect privacy or private life: "There is a critical need to place gender-based violence within the context of women's structural inequality as a means of breaking down the distinction between public and private life that operates to exclude gender-based violence from the human rights agenda.

Sex and the problem of human rights