discontinuity

discontinuity

English

Etymology

From Late Latin discontinuitās, from discontinuus.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌdɪskɒntɪˈnjuːɪti/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌdɪskɑntɪˈnuːɪti/

• Audio (US)

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Noun

discontinuity (plural discontinuities)

1. A lack of continuity, regularity or sequence; a break or gap. [from 16th c.]
   • 2012, George Dyson, Turing's Cathedral, Penguin 2013, p. 57:

     Shock waves are sudden discontinuities propagated in compressible media – usually air.

2. (mathematics) A point in the range of a function at which it is undefined or discontinuous. [from 19th c.]
3. (geology) a subterranean interface at which seismic velocities change

Derived terms

• discontinuity systematics
• Gutenberg discontinuity
• Moho discontinuity
• Mohorovičić discontinuity
• Mohorovicic discontinuity

 

Related terms

• discontinuous

Translations

lack of continuity

Bulgarian: прекъснатост f (prekǎsnatost) Catalan: discontinuïtat f Dutch: discontinuïteit (nl) f Finnish: epäjatkuvuus Georgian: წყვეტა (c̣q̇veṭa), წყვეტილობა (c̣q̇veṭiloba) German: Diskontinuität (de) f Greek: ασυνέχεια (el) f (asynécheia), διακοπή (el) f (diakopí) Hindi: अनिरंतरता (hi) f (anirantartā) Manx: (please verify) neulhiantynys m Swedish: diskontinuitet (sv) c Tagalog: dikatuluyan

point in the range of a function

Bulgarian: точка на прекъсване f (točka na prekǎsvane) Finnish: epäjatkuvuus, epäjatkuvuuskohta (fi) Greek: ασυνέχεια (el) f (asynécheia) Swedish: diskontinuitet (sv) c

subterranean interface

Dutch: discontinuïteit (nl) f Finnish: epäjatkuvuus Greek: χάσμα (el) n (chásma)

Translations

Manx: (please verify) barney f, (please verify) brishey m