Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Demonstration?

\Dem`on*stra"tion\, n. [L. demonstratio: cf. F. d['e]monstration.] 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. 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}, 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}, 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.