Timeline for What is the difference between "minimum" and "minimal"?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
10 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 7, 2018 at 22:32 | comment | added | sisis | Very different meanings in math. A minimal (maximal) object cannot be made smaller (larger) without violating properties that the object must satisfy. On the other hand, minimum (maximum) means that the object in question is the smallest (largest) among all objects that satisfy a given set of properties. By definition, a minimum (maximum) object is minimal (maximal), but not necessarily the other way! | |
| Oct 12, 2015 at 15:39 | comment | added | Peter Shor | For mathematical uses, minimum and minimal have two different meanings. | |
| Oct 10, 2015 at 1:49 | comment | added | Sven Yargs | As AndyT points out, if you scan past the noun definitions of minimum on Dictionary.com, you'll see that minimum can also be an adjective. In fact, Dictionary.com gives four definitions of minimum as an adjective. The split between minimal and minimum is certainly not as basic as one is a noun and the other is an adjective, as you seem to suggest. | |
| Oct 7, 2015 at 11:30 | comment | added | AndyT | @anonymous - According to dictionary.com, the very reference you have used, minimum can be either a noun or an adjective. Your distinction between minimum and minimal is therefore incorrect, and minimum angle is perfectly grammatically acceptable. | |
| Oct 6, 2015 at 13:23 | comment | added | Thinkeye | As my understanding goes, the minimal angle is often given as minimum [of] angle, where the word 'of' is just omitted for whatever reason. | |
| Oct 5, 2015 at 14:36 | comment | added | anonymous | oh, I would still stick with minimal | |
| Oct 5, 2015 at 9:02 | comment | added | Rob | On google! I mean just the number of search results for both terms. Not a forum or whatever. Google for "minimum angle". You get around 186.000.000 hits. Then google for "minimal angle" --> just 114.000.000 hits and you are asked if you meant "minimum angle" instead. | |
| Oct 2, 2015 at 14:42 | comment | added | anonymous | I can explain it if you tell me where you got that information. Google answers are asked and answered by people like you. The one who doesn't quite know the more proper way to put it. I suggest avoiding sites using google or just answers answered by google. So yes, the more proper way to say that would be my above answer. | |
| Oct 2, 2015 at 9:17 | comment | added | Rob | Thanks! If this is true, why does google suggest "minimum angle" if I search for "minimal angle"? "minimal angle" has only almost half of the hits as "minimum angle". It seems "minimum angle" is used more often. Any explanation for that? | |
| Oct 1, 2015 at 15:34 | history | answered | anonymous | CC BY-SA 3.0 |