COMPLEMENT (Lat. complementum, from complere, to fill up)

This article appears in Volume V06, Page 811 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: COM-COR

COMPLEMENT (Lat. complementum, from complere, to fill up) , that which fills up or completes anything, e.g. the number of men necessary to man a ship. In geometry, the

complement

COMPLEMENT (Lat. complementum, from complere, to fill up)

of an

angle

ANGLE (from the Lat. angulus, a corner, a diminutive, of which the primitive form,
angus
- ANGUS, EARLS OF
, does not occur in Latin; cognate are the Lat. angere, to compress into a bend or to strangle, and the Gr. ayKOS, a bend; both connected with the Aryan root ank-, to

is the difference between the

angle

ANGLE (from the Lat. angulus, a corner, a diminutive, of which the primitive form,
angus
- ANGUS, EARLS OF
, does not occur in Latin; cognate are the Lat. angere, to compress into a bend or to strangle, and the Gr. ayKOS, a bend; both connected with the Aryan root ank-, to

and a right angle; the complements of a parallelogram are formed by drawing parallel to adjacent sides of a parallelogram two lines intersecting on a

diagonal

DIAGONAL (Gr. &a, through, ywvia, a corner)

; four parallelograms are thus formed, and the two not about the

diagonal

DIAGONAL (Gr. &a, through, ywvia, a corner)

of the

original

ORIGINAL

parallelogram are the complements of the parallelogram. In

analysis

ANALYSIS (Gr. avci and Meta, to break up into parts)

, a complementary

function

FUNCTION

is a partial solution to a differential equation (q.v.); complementary operators are reciprocal or inverse operators, i.e. two operations A and B are complementary when both operating on the same figure or

function

FUNCTION

leave it unchanged. A " complementary colour " is one which produces white when mixed with another (see CoLouR). In Spanish the word cumplimento was used in a particular sense of the fulfilment of the duties of polite behaviour and courtesy, and it came through the French and Italian forms into use in

English

ENGLISH

, with a

change

CHANGE (derived through the Fr. from the Late Lat. cambium, cambiare, to barter; the ultimate derivation is probably from the root which appears in the Gr. 冠 urmu', to bend)

in spelling to " compliment," with the sense of an act of politeness, especially of a polite expression of praise, or of social regard andgreetings. The word " comply," meaning to act in accordance with wishes, orders or conditions, is also derived from the same origin, but in sense is connected with " ply " or " pliant," from Lat. plicare, to bend, with the

idea

IDEA (Gr. Ibia, connected with i&eiv, to see; cf. Lat. species from specere, to look at)

of subserviently yielding to the wishes of another.

End of Article: COMPLEMENT (Lat. complementum, from complere, to fill up)

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