Masterpiece
Masterpiece or chef d'œuvre in modern use refers to a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or to a work of outstanding creativity, skill, or workmanship. Historically, the word refers to a work of a very high standard produced in order to obtain membership of a Guild or Academy.
Etymology
The word masterpiece probably derives from the Dutch "meesterstuk" or German "meisterstück", and the form "masterstik" is recorded in English in 1579 (or in Scots, since this was from some Aberdeen guild regulations), whereas "masterpiece" is first found in 1605, already outside a guild context, in a Ben Jonson play. "Masterprize" was another early variant in English.
In English, the term rapidly became used in a variety of contexts for an exceptionally good piece of creative work, and was "in early use, often applied to man as the 'masterpiece' of God or Nature".
In craftsmanship and art
Originally, the term masterpiece referred to a piece of work produced by an apprentice or journeyman aspiring to become a master craftsman in the old European guild system. His fitness to qualify for guild membership was judged partly by the masterpiece, and if he was successful, the piece was retained by the guild. Great care was therefore taken to produce a fine piece in whatever the craft was, whether confectionery, painting, goldsmithing, knifemaking, or many other trades.
Masterpiece (Nathan album)
"Masterpiece" is the debut album from British R&B singer Nathan. The album was released on 9 October 2006 in the UK. The album features four singles including "Round and Round", "Cold as Ice", the top 40 hit "Come into My Room" and the latest single "Do Without my Love".
Track listing
Chart performance
Release history
References
Sweet Talker (Jessie J album)
Sweet Talker is the third studio album by English recording artist Jessie J, released on 13 October 2014 through Lava Records and Island Records. American rapper 2 Chainz, American singer Ariana Grande, and American rapper Nicki Minaj all make guest appearances on the album, in addition to hip hop group De La Soul and violinist Lindsey Stirling. Jessie co-wrote the album and worked with The-Dream, Diplo, Tricky Stewart, Max Martin, Ammo and amongst a host of collaborators from both new and old. It is Jessie's first album that has songs not written nor co-written by her.
Upon release, the album received generally mixed reviews from music critics, some of whom commended Jessie's vocal performance, confidence and the production. The album was preceded by the lead single "Bang Bang", featuring Grande and Minaj, which was released on 29 July 2014 and was met with critical acclaim from music critics. It also became a worldwide hit, topping the charts in the United Kingdom, reaching the top 10 in Australia, Canada, Denmark, New Zealand, and reaching the top 3 in the United States, becoming Jessie's most successful single there. Follow-up single Masterpiece was also successful, reaching the top-ten in Germany, Switzerland and Austria as well as the top-twenty in Australia and New Zealand. Moreover, the song scored Jessie J her fifth US Billboard Hot 100 hit, following the aforementioned Bang Bang.
Axiom
An axiom or postulate as defined in classic philosophy, is a statement (in mathematics often shown in symbolic form) that is so evident or well-established, that it is accepted without controversy or question. Thus, the axiom can be used as the premise or starting point for further reasoning or arguments, usually in logic or in mathematics The word comes from the Greek axíōma (ἀξίωμα) 'that which is thought worthy or fit' or 'that which commends itself as evident.'
As used in modern logic, an axiom is simply a premise or starting point for reasoning. Whether it is meaningful (and, if so, what it means) for an axiom, or any mathematical statement, to be "true" is a central question in the philosophy of mathematics, with modern mathematicians holding a multitude of different opinions.
As used in mathematics, the term axiom is used in two related but distinguishable senses: "logical axioms" and "non-logical axioms". Logical axioms are usually statements that are taken to be true within the system of logic they define (e.g., (A and B) implies A), while non-logical axioms (e.g., a + b = b + a) are actually substantive assertions about the elements of the domain of a specific mathematical theory (such as arithmetic). When used in the latter sense, "axiom", "postulate", and "assumption" may be used interchangeably. In general, a non-logical axiom is not a self-evident truth, but rather a formal logical expression used in deduction to build a mathematical theory. As modern mathematics admits multiple, equally "true" systems of logic, precisely the same thing must be said for logical axioms - they both define and are specific to the particular system of logic that is being invoked. To axiomatize a system of knowledge is to show that its claims can be derived from a small, well-understood set of sentences (the axioms). There are typically multiple ways to axiomatize a given mathematical domain.
Axiom (computer algebra system)
Axiom is a free, general-purpose computer algebra system. It consists of an interpreter environment, a compiler and a library, which defines a strongly typed, mathematically (mostly) correct type hierarchy.
History
Two computer algebra systems named Scratchpad were developed by IBM. The first one was started in 1965 by James Greismer at the request of Ralph Gomory, and written in Fortran. The development of this software was stopped before any public release. The second Scratchpad, originally named Scratchpad II, was developed from 1977 on, at Thomas J. Watson Research Center, under the direction of Richard Dimick Jenks. Other key early developers were Barry Trager, Stephen Watt, James Davenport, Robert Sutor, and Scott Morrison.
Scratchpad II was renamed Axiom when IBM decided, circa 1990, to make it a commercial product. A few years later, it was sold to NAG. In 2001, it was withdrawn from the market and re-released under the Modified BSD License. Since then, the project's lead developer has been Tim Daly.
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