ad hoc


The Latin phrase ad hoc translates as “toward this”, and is used in mathematics to describe anything that has been made up specifically for one particular purpose.

Examples

  1. 1.

    an ad hoc definition is a temporary definition that might be useful for the discussion at hand. For instance, let a nice set be a closed set with smooth boundary.

  2. 2.

    If a proof makes use of an ad hoc construction, the proof (typically) does not make use of a general theory for the problem.

See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hocArticle on ad hoc on Wikipedia

Title ad hoc
Canonical name AdHoc
Date of creation 2013-03-22 14:45:20
Last modified on 2013-03-22 14:45:20
Owner mathcam (2727)
Last modified by mathcam (2727)
Numerical id 9
Author mathcam (2727)
Entry type Definition
Classification msc 00-01