Other forms: approximations
An approximation is an answer close enough to be useful. A rough approximation, a good approximation, only an approximation.
It is not a failure to be exact but a choice: most engineering and all measurement work with them, and the skill is knowing how much error you can carry. A first approximation is a deliberately rough one you intend to improve.
1nounapproximationAn answer close enough to be useful.
“The map is only an approximation, so don't expect every path to be exactly right.”
approximation is an estimate.
Proto-Indo-European
*-kʷe
Latin
approximātus
Middle English
approximat
English
approximate
English, today
approximation
Built from
From approximate + -ion. approximate comes from Middle English approximat, from Latin approximātus. From Middle English approximat (“close, near (to); similar; intimate”), from Latin approximātus, the perfect passive participle of approximō (see -ate), further from ad- (“to, towards, at”) + proximō (“to come near”). The noun was derived from the adjective through substantivization, see -ate. See also proximate. by surface analysis, ap- + proximate.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA