geometric progression
1
6.8
- noun
- /dʒiˈɑːmɛtrɪk prəˈɡrɛʃən/
- Specialized
:
progresión geométrica
- In his childhood, he had discovered the formula for summing up an infinite geometric progression many years before it was formulated by Friedrich Gauss, but proving the formula bored him so much that he decided to pigeonhole it, thus keeping the fame of the world away from himself and his city.
- follow a geometric progression
Examples
-
Specifically, the anxiety increases in something like a geometric progression whenever the source of concern is put to the test and adequate control is indeed found to be wanting, with the mounting anxiety itself contributing to further loss of control.
Blog text (32) -
That's a geometric progression, sir.
Fiction book (1996) -
The FLOPs of Algorithm BC follow a geometric progression.
Academic text (2000) -
Nonetheless, the total computation at each level again follows a variable "geometric progression" whose ratio is r > 1/2.
Academic text (1997) -
For 1995 (3 offspring), you get the following geometric progression: 3, 9, 27, 81, 243, etc., until in 2006 you have 531,441 in generation 12 (3 to the 12th power).
Blog text (31) -
A geometric progression starts with a number and multiplies it by the same factor to create each following term.
-
The values in a geometric progression increase rapidly because each term is multiplied by a constant.
-
In a geometric progression, if you begin with 2 and multiply by 3 each time, the sequence goes 2, 6, 18, 54, and so on.
Surface Forms
Morphology
Knowing 'geometric' (relating to geometry) and 'progression' (an ordered sequence) gives a B1 learner a partial clue that this is a mathematical sequence, but it does not specify the crucial multiplicative rule (each term obtained by multiplying by a fixed ratio). The precise technical sense requires domain knowledge or prior exposure, and although many languages use a similar compound term, the meaning is only partially predictable.
Etymology
Geometric progression comes from a simple picture: geometric suggests a regular change in size and progression means a step-by-step movement. Imagine a pile of coins that doubles each time — each new pile is made by multiplying the previous one by the same number, so the term means a 'sequence' where every term is made by multiplying the last term by a fixed number.