Although many people automatically turn to calculators and computers to do their math for them these days, the knowledge of mathematics used to be extremely important in most areas of business, and words related to mathematical functions began to turn up in ordinary English conversations. While the percentage (see, a math term!) of the population that focuses on the intricacies of calculus and higher mathematics is relatively small, it’s useful* to learn the meaning of some of the terms found in the field.

When you’re looking at a fraction, the denominator is the number below the line that tells you how many pieces you’re breaking something into and considering. For example, with the fraction 5/8, you have 5 of the 8 parts of the whole. 8 is the denominator in this case.

A rhombus is a four-sided figure where all the sides are the same length. A square is a rhombus, as is a rectangle. The word comes from the Greek verb rhembesthai, meaning “to spin,” for in order for something to spin it needs to be of equal weight on all sides.

When mathematicians talk about the mean, they’re not talking about how their colleagues are picking on them. The mean (or average) is the answer you get when you add up the sum of all the numbers in a set, then divide that sum by the total number of numbers in the set. That is, the mean of the set (21, 30, 44, 50, 65) is 42, because 21 + 30 + 44 + 50 + 65 = 210 and 210/5 (the number of numbers in the set) = 42. This is different from the median, which is the middle of a set; in the list of numbers above, the median is 44 because it’s the one in the middle.

Permutations are all the ways that a single set of things can be arranged in different ways. For example, here are the permutations of the set (A, B, C):

A B C
A C B
B A C
B C A
C A B
C B A

The word comes from the Latin roots per- (“thorough”) and mutare (“to change”); this last root word is obviously the basis for our word mutation, which should help you remember this mathematical term.

No matter what field you’re in, there are always words to be learned from other areas of study. Keep your eyes and your mind open for these new English vocabulary words, and you’ll see how quickly the benefits add up.

* Or at least interesting. Well, we think so, anyway.