[W/K] :: reduction

  Reduction \Re*duc"tion\ (r[-e]*d[u^]k"sh[u^]n), n. [F.
     r['e]duction, L. reductio. See Reduce.]
     1. The act of reducing, or state of being reduced; conversion
        to a given state or condition; diminution; conquest; as,
        the reduction of a body to powder; the reduction of things
        to order; the reduction of the expenses of government; the
        reduction of a rebellious province.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Arith. & Alg.) The act or process of reducing. See
        Reduce, v. t., 6. and To reduce an equation, To
        reduce an expression, under Reduce, v. t.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. (Astron.)
        (a) The correction of observations for known errors of
            instruments, etc.
        (b) The preparation of the facts and measurements of
            observations in order to deduce a general result.
            [1913 Webster]
  
     4. The process of making a copy of something, as a figure,
        design, or draught, on a smaller scale, preserving the
        proper proportions. --Fairholt.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     5. (Logic) The bringing of a syllogism in one of the
        so-called imperfect modes into a mode in the first figure.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     6. (Chem. & Metal.) The act, process, or result of
        reducing[7]; as, the reduction of iron from its ores; the
        reduction of an aldehyde into an alcohol.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     7. (Med.) The operation of restoring a dislocated or
        fractured part to its former place.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Reduction ascending (Arith.), the operation of changing
        numbers of a lower into others of a higher denomination,
        as cents to dollars.
  
     Reduction descending (Arith.), the operation of changing
        numbers of a higher into others of a lower denomination,
        as dollars to cents.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Syn: Diminution; decrease; abatement; curtailment;
          subjugation; conquest; subjection.
          [1913 Webster]

  reduction
       n 1: the act of decreasing or reducing something [syn: decrease,
             diminution, step-down] [ant: increase]
       2: any process in which electrons are added to an atom or ion
          (as by removing oxygen or adding hydrogen); always occurs
          accompanied by oxidation of the reducing agent [syn: reducing]
       3: the act of reducing complexity [syn: simplification]

  290 Moby Thesaurus words for "reduction":
     abasement, abatement, abbreviation, about-face, abridgment,
     abstract, acetification, acidification, acidulation, addition,
     agio, alchemy, alkalization, allayment, alleviation, allowance,
     analgesia, anesthesia, anesthetizing, apocope, appeasement,
     approximation, assimilation, assuagement, assumption, astriction,
     astringency, attenuation, attrition, bank discount, becoming,
     blunting, bottleneck, break, breakage, breaking, bump, bust,
     calming, carbonation, cash discount, casting down, catalysis,
     cervix, chain discount, change, change-over, charge-off,
     cheapening, chemicalization, circumscription, coarctation,
     compactedness, compaction, compression, compressure, concavity,
     concentration, concession, condensation, conquering, consolidation,
     conspectus, constriction, constringency, contraction, contracture,
     conversion, crushing, curtailment, cut, cutting, dampening,
     damping, de-escalation, deadening, debasement, debilitation,
     decline, decrease, decrement, decrescence, deduction, deflation,
     degradation, degrading, demotion, demulsion, depletion, depluming,
     depreciation, depression, derogation, descent, detraction,
     detrusion, devaluation, devitalization, differentiation, dilution,
     diminishment, diminuendo, diminution, dip, discount, disgrading,
     disparagement, displuming, dive, division, domestication,
     downgrading, drawback, ducking, dulcification, dulling, dying,
     dying off, ease, easement, easing, effemination, electrolysis,
     elision, ellipsis, enervation, enfeeblement, epitome, equation,
     evisceration, evolution, exhaustion, extenuation, extraction,
     extrapolation, fade-out, falling-off, fatigue, ferment,
     fermentation, flip-flop, foreshortening, growth, hauling down,
     hollowness, hourglass, hourglass figure, humbling, humiliation,
     hushing, hydrogenation, impairment, inanition, integration,
     interpolation, inversion, involution, isomerism, isthmus, kickback,
     knitting, languishment, lapse, leniency, lessening, letdown, letup,
     lightening, loosening, lowering, lulling, markdown, metamerism,
     metamerization, miniaturization, mitigation, modulation,
     mollification, multiplication, narrow place, narrowing,
     naturalization, neck, nitration, nose dive, notation, numbing,
     oxidation, oxidization, pacification, palliation, passage, penalty,
     penalty clause, percentage, phosphatization, plummet, plummeting,
     plunge, polymerism, polymerization, position isomerism, practice,
     precis, premium, price cut, price fall, price reduction, price-cut,
     progress, proportion, puckering, pursing, quelling, quietening,
     quieting, re-formation, rebate, rebatement, recap, recapitulation,
     reconversion, refund, relaxation, relief, remedy, remission,
     resolution, retraction, retrenchment, reversal, rollback, sag,
     sagging, salvage, salving, saturization, scaling down, setoff,
     shift, shortening, shrinkage, simplicity, sinking, slackening,
     slash, slump, softening, solidification, soothing, stranglement,
     strangulation, striction, stricture, stripping of rank, subdual,
     subduement, submergence, subtraction, summary, summation,
     suppression, switch, switch-over, syncope, synopsis, systole,
     taming, tare, telescoping, tempering, thinning, thrusting under,
     time discount, trade discount, tranquilization, transformation,
     transit, transition, treading down, tret, truncation, turning into,
     underselling, volte-face, wasp waist, weakening, working,
     wrinkling, write-off
  
  

  reduction
       
          (Or "contraction") The process of transforming an expression
          according to certain reduction rules.  The most important
          forms are beta reduction (application of a lambda
          abstraction to one or more argument expressions) and delta
          reduction (application of a mathematical function to the
          required number of arguments).
       
          An evaluation strategy (or reduction strategy), determines
          which part of an expression (which redex) to reduce first.
          There are many such strategies.
       
          See graph reduction, string reduction, normal order
          reduction, applicative order reduction, parallel
          reduction, alpha conversion, beta conversion, delta
          conversion, eta conversion.
       
          (1995-02-21)