DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan

 Dem·on·stra·tion n.
 1. The act of demonstrating; an exhibition; proof; especially, proof beyond the possibility of doubt; indubitable evidence, to the senses or reason.
    Those intervening ideas which serve to show the agreement of any two others are called =\“proofs;” and where agreement or disagreement is by this means plainly and clearly perceived, it is called demonstration.\=   --Locke.
 2. An expression, as of the feelings, by outward signs; a manifestation; a show.  See also sense 7 for a more specific related meaning.
    Did your letters pierce the queen to any demonstration of grief?   --Shak.
    Loyal demonstrations toward the prince.   --Prescott.
 3. Anat. The exhibition and explanation of a dissection or other anatomical preparation.
 4. (Mil.) a decisive exhibition of force, or a movement indicating an attack.
 5. Logic The act of proving by the syllogistic process, or the proof itself.
 6. Math. A course of reasoning showing that a certain result is a necessary consequence of assumed premises; -- these premises being definitions, axioms, and previously established propositions.
 Direct demonstration, or  Positive demonstration, Logic & Math., one in which the correct conclusion is the immediate sequence of reasoning from axiomatic or established premises; -- opposed to Indirect demonstration, or Negative demonstration (called also reductio ad absurdum), in which the correct conclusion is an inference from the demonstration that any other hypothesis must be incorrect.
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 In·di·rect a.
 1. Not direct; not straight or rectilinear; deviating from a direct line or course; circuitous; as, an indirect road.
 2. Not tending to an aim, purpose, or result by the plainest course, or by obvious means, but obliquely or consequentially; by remote means; as, an indirect accusation, attack, answer, or proposal.
 By what bypaths and indirect, crooked ways
 I met this crown.   --Shak.
 3. Not straightforward or upright; unfair; dishonest; tending to mislead or deceive.
    Indirect dealing will be discovered one time or other.   --Tillotson.
 4. Not resulting directly from an act or cause, but more or less remotely connected with or growing out of it; as, indirect results, damages, or claims.
 5. Logic & Math. Not reaching the end aimed at by the most plain and direct method; as, an indirect proof, demonstration, etc.
 Indirect claims, claims for remote or consequential damage. Such claims were presented to and thrown out by the commissioners who arbitrated the damage inflicted on the United States by the Confederate States cruisers built and supplied by Great Britain.
 Indirect demonstration, a mode of demonstration in which proof is given by showing that any other supposition involves an absurdity (reductio ad absurdum), or an impossibility; thus, one quantity may be proved equal to another by showing that it can be neither greater nor less.
 Indirect discourse. Gram. See Direct discourse, under Direct.
 Indirect evidence, evidence or testimony which is circumstantial or inferential, but without witness; -- opposed to direct evidence.
 Indirect tax, a tax, such as customs, excises, etc., exacted directly from the merchant, but paid indirectly by the consumer in the higher price demanded for the articles of merchandise.
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