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Rational vs Proven - What's the difference?

rational | proven |

As an adjective rational

is capable of reasoning.

As a noun rational

is (mathematics) a rational number: a number that can be expressed as the quotient of two integers.

As a verb proven is

.

rational

English

Alternative forms

* rationall (obsolete)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) rationel, rational, from (etyl)

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Capable of reasoning.
  • *
  • Logically sound; not contradictory or otherwise absurd.
  • (label) Healthy or balanced intellectually; exhibiting reasonableness.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2014-06-21, volume=411, issue=8892, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Magician’s brain , passage=The [Isaac] Newton that emerges from the [unpublished] manuscripts is far from the popular image of a rational practitioner of cold and pure reason. The architect of modern science was himself not very modern. He was obsessed with alchemy.}}
  • Of a number, capable of being expressed as the ratio of two integers.
  • ¾ is a rational number, but ?2 is an irrational number.
  • Of an algebraic expression, capable of being expressed as the ratio of two polynomials.
  • (label) Expressing the type, structure, relations, and reactions of a compound; graphic; said of formulae.
  • Antonyms
    * (reasonable) absurd, irrational, nonsensical * (capable of reasoning) arational, irrational, non-rational * (number theory) irrational

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) rational, from , for which see the first etymology.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (mathematics) A rational number: a number that can be expressed as the quotient of two integers.
  • The quotient of two rationals''' is again a '''rational .
  • A rational being.
  • (Young)

    References

    * *

    Anagrams

    *

    proven

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Having been proved; having proved its value or truth.
  • It's a proven fact that morphine is a more effective painkiller than acetaminophen is.
    Mass lexical comparison is not a proven method for demonstrating relationships between languages.

    Antonyms

    * (having been proved) unproven

    Verb

    (head)
  • Usage notes

    As the past participle of prove, proven is often discouraged, with proved preferred – “have proved” rather than “have proven”. However, today in everyday use they are both used, about equally. Historically, proved'' is the older form, while proven''' arose as a Scottish variant – see . Used in legal writing from mid 17th century, it entered literary usage more slowly, only becoming significant in the 19th century, with the poet among the earliest frequent users (presumably for reasons of meter). In the 19th century, '''proven was widely discouraged, and remained significantly less common through the mid 20th century (''proved being used approximately four times as often), by the late 20th century it came to be used about equally. As an attributive adjective, proven is much more commonly used, and proved is widely considered an error – “a proven method”, not *“a proved method”.