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pair

 
(pâr) pronunciation
n., pl., pair, or pairs.
  1. Two corresponding persons or items, similar in form or function and matched or associated: a pair of shoes.
  2. One object composed of two joined, similar parts that are dependent upon each other: a pair of pliers.
    1. Two persons who are married, engaged, or dating.
    2. Two persons who have something in common and are considered together: a pair of hunters.
    3. Two mated animals.
    4. Two animals joined together in work.
  3. Games. Two playing cards of the same denomination.
  4. Two members of a deliberative body with opposing opinions on a given issue who agree to abstain from voting on the issue, thereby offsetting each other.
  5. Chemistry. An electron pair.

v., paired, pair·ing, pairs.

v.tr.
  1. To arrange in sets of two; couple.
  2. To join in a pair; mate.
  3. To provide a partner for.
v.intr.
  1. To form pairs or a pair.
  2. To join in marriage; mate.

[Middle English, from Old French paire, from Latin paria, equals, pl. of pār, a pair, from pār, equal.]

USAGE NOTE   The noun pair can be followed by a singular or plural verb. The singular is always used when pair denotes the set taken as a single entity: This pair of shoes is on sale. A plural verb is used when the members are considered as individuals: The pair are working more harmoniously now. After a number other than one, pair itself can be either singular or plural, but the plural is now more common: She bought six pairs (or pair) of stockings.


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1. Used as a collective noun, pair is treated as a plural when it denotes two separate items and as a singular when it denotes a unit: so a pair of gloves, scissors, scales, shoes, trousers, etc. are singular whereas a pair of bachelors, dogs, idiots, rock-climbers, etc. (all taken from collocations occurring in Old English (up to 1150)D2) would normally be plural. Examples: (singular)
On the front of the radiator grille was mounted a pair of very large Cibie spotlights that dwarfed the standard headlamps—M. Booth, 1980
To draw a heavy plough through wet clay soil, a pair of oxen yoked together was used—M. Graham-Cameron et al., 1984
In addition to the various gripping wrenches, a pair of general-purpose pliers is always useful—D. Holloway, 1992
(plural) The next pair of readings are concerned with what has perhaps been the single most salient political issue in British education in the twentieth century—M. Flude et al., 1989
A pair of Pyracantha coccinea are placed strategically, one on either side of a cottage front door—Gardener, 1992.


2. However, the rule is not altogether rigid, and contrary examples can be found which do not seem ungrammatical:
When you've lived on subsistence for two years what do you do when your shoes wear out, when you get a £100 fuel bill, when the washing machine breaks down, when a pair of children's shoes cost you more than you'd spend on your own?—B. Campbell, 1985
One pair of ruby earrings are especially important—television news script, 1993.
In referring back to a 'singular' pair, the plural is normally used because it refers not to pair but to the following (plural) noun:
She...handed me a pair of Japanese thongs. I slipped them on and felt the skin between my first two toes protest—H. Engel, 1981.
The standard plural form for more than one pair is (for example) two pairs of shoes, although two pair of shoes is used informally and in dialect use.

3. The phrase pair of twins is generally understood to mean a single set (the more usual word in the context of twins), not two sets:
She gave birth to a pair of male twins, one of which was a stillborn with no malformations—Lancet, 1977.

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noun

  1. Two items of the same kind together: brace, couple, couplet, doublet, duet, duo, match, two, twosome, yoke. See group, same/different/compare.
  2. Two persons united, as by marriage: couple, duo, twosome. See group.

In addition to the idiom beginning with pair, also see show one's (a clean pair of) heels.


n

Definition: two of something
Antonyms: one, single

v

Definition: make, become a twosome
Antonyms: divide, separate, sever

Flight or series of flights in a stair from one floor to the next.

Pairing, a practice whereby two members of Congress of opposing parties who plan to be absent agree that, during a specified period, they will refrain from voting in person but will permit their names to be recorded on opposite sides of each question, thereby not affecting the vote. It was first used in the House of Representatives as early as 1824 and was first openly avowed in 1840, but pairing was not officially recognized in the House rules until 1880. Pairing is also permitted in the Senate, and is customary, though not universal, in state legislatures.

Bibliography

Fenno, Richard. The United States Senate: A Bicameral Perspective. Washington, D.C.: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, 1982.

Mason, Paul. Manual of Procedure for Legislative and Other Government Bodies. New York: 1953.

Two matching cards of the same rank. Two of a kind.

SoundPoker Says: A pair can be made in one of three places. A pair can be made in your hole cards. In Hold'em or Omaha, these would be referred to as a pocket pair. A pair can also be made when two of the community cards match up. Most commonly though, a pair is made when a player holds one card in their hand and they match up with one of the community cards. A pair is not one of the strongest hands in poker. A pair made on the board can often lead to someone holding a set (three of a kind).

See Also: Bullets, Hole Cards, One Pair, Over Pair, Pair, Set, Top Pair, Two Pair


the gene for a sequence-specific DNA-binding homeobox segmentation protein in Drosophila melanogaster. It is one of a number of pair-rule genes, each of which specifies a simple alternation with a repeat distance of two segments. Their protein products are characterized by a paired-box DNA-binding domain of ≈128 amino acids, which consists of two subdomains each resembling a homeobox domain.

Previous:pair-rule gene, packing fraction, packing density
Next:palindrome, pallidin, palmitate

Pertaining to data or animals that are matched as being very similar.

  • p. controls — see paired control.
  • p. data — values which fall normally into pairs and can therefore be expected to vary more between pairs than within pairs.
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2 (number)

Top
2

−1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Cardinal 2
two
Ordinal 2nd
second
Numeral system binary
Factorisation prime
Gaussian integer factorisation (1 + i)(1 − i)
Divisors 1, 2
Greek numeral β'
Roman numeral II
Roman numeral (Unicode) Ⅱ, ⅱ
Arabic ٢
Ge'ez
Bengali
Chinese numeral 二,弍,贰,貳
Devanāgarī
Telugu
Tamil
Hebrew ב (Bet)
Khmer
Korean
Thai
prefixes di- (from Greek)

duo- bi- (from Latin) twi- (Old English)

Binary 10
Cardinal 2
two
Octal 2
Hexadecimal 2
Duodecimal 2
Place
Two.png

2 (two; Listeni/ˈt/) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the natural number following 1 and preceding 3.

Contents

In mathematics

Two has many properties in mathematics.[1] An integer is called even if it is divisible by 2. For integers written in a numeral system based on an even number, such as decimal and hexadecimal, divisibility by 2 is easily tested by merely looking at the last digit. If it is even, then the whole number is even. In particular, when written in the decimal system, all multiples of 2 will end in 0, 2, 4, 6, or 8.

Two is the smallest and the first prime number, and the only even one[2] (for this reason it is sometimes called "the oddest prime"[3]). The next prime is three. Two and three are the only two consecutive prime numbers. 2 is the first Sophie Germain prime, the first factorial prime, the first Lucas prime, and the first Smarandache-Wellin prime. It is an Eisenstein prime with no imaginary part and real part of the form 3n − 1. It is also a Stern prime, a Pell number, the first Fibonacci prime, and a Markov number, appearing in infinitely many solutions to the Markov Diophantine equation involving odd-indexed Pell numbers.

It is the third Fibonacci number, and the third and fifth Perrin numbers.

Despite being a prime, two is also a highly composite number, because it has more divisors than the number one. The next highly composite number is four.

Vulgar fractions with 2 or 5 in the denominator do not yield infinite decimal expansions, as is the case with all other primes, because 2 and 5 are factors of ten, the decimal base.

Two is the base of the simplest numeral system in which natural numbers can be written concisely, being the length of the number a logarithm of the value of the number (whereas in base 1 the length of the number is the value of the number itself); the binary system is used in computers.

For any number x:

x+x = 2·x addition to multiplication
x·x = x2 multiplication to exponentiation
xx = x↑↑2 exponentiation to tetration

Two also has the unique property that 2+2 = 2·2 = 2²=2↑↑2=2↑↑↑2, and so on, no matter how high the operation is.

Two is the only number x such that the sum of the reciprocals of the powers of x equals itself. In symbols

\sum_{k=0}^{\infin}\frac {1}{2^k}=1+\frac{1}{2}+\frac{1}{4}+\frac{1}{8}+\frac{1}{16}+\cdots=2.

This comes from the fact that:

\sum_{k=0}^\infin \frac {1}{n^k}=1+\frac{1}{n-1} \quad\mbox{for all} \quad n\in\mathbb R > 1.

Powers of two are central to the concept of Mersenne primes, and important to computer science. Two is the first Mersenne prime exponent.

Taking the square root of a number is such a common mathematical operation, that the spot on the root sign where the exponent would normally be written for cubic roots and other such roots, is left blank for square roots, as it is considered tacit.

The square root of two was the first known irrational number.

The smallest field has two elements.

In the set-theoretical construction of the natural numbers, 2 is identified with the set \{\{\emptyset\},\emptyset\}. This latter set is important in category theory: it is a subobject classifier in the category of sets.

Two is a primorial, as well as its own factorial. Two often occurs in numerical sequences, such as the Fibonacci number sequence, but not quite as often as one does. Two is also a Motzkin number, a Bell number, an all-Harshad number, a meandric number, a semi-meandric number, and an open meandric number.

Two is the number of n-Queens Problem solutions for n = 4. With one exception, all known solutions to Znám's problem start with 2.

Two also has the unique property such that

\sum_{k=0}^{n-1} 2^k = 2^{n} - 1

and also

\sum_{k=a}^{n-1} 2^k = 2^n - \sum_{k=0}^{a-1} 2^k - 1

for a not equal to zero

The number of domino tilings of a 2×2 checkerboard is 2.

For any polyhedron homeomorphic to a sphere, the Euler characteristic is

\chi = V-E+F = 2.\

As of 2008, there are only two known Wieferich primes.

List of basic calculations

Multiplication 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 50 100 1000
2 \times x 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 100 200 2000
Division 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
2 \div x 2 1 0.\overline{6} 0.5 0.4 0.\overline{3} 0.\overline{285714} 0.25 0.\overline{2} 0.2 0.\overline{1}\overline{8} 0.1\overline{6} 0.\overline{153846} 0.\overline{142857} 0.1\overline{3}
x \div 2 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7 7.5
Exponentiation 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
2 ^ x\, 2 4 8 16 32 64 128 256 512 1024 2048 4096 8192
x ^ 2\, 1 4 9 16 25 36 49 64 81 100 121 144 169

Evolution of the glyph

Evolution2glyph.png

The glyph used in the modern Western world to represent the number 2 traces its roots back to the Brahmin Indians, who wrote "2" as two horizontal lines. The modern Chinese and Japanese languages still use this method. The Gupta rotated the two lines 45 degrees, making them diagonal, and sometimes also made the top line shorter and made its bottom end curve towards the center of the bottom line. Apparently for speed, the Nagari started making the top line more like a curve and connecting to the bottom line. The Ghubar Arabs made the bottom line completely vertical, and now the glyph looked like a dotless closing question mark. Restoring the bottom line to its original horizontal position, but keeping the top line as a curve that connects to the bottom line leads to our modern glyph.[4]

In fonts with text figures, 2 usually is of x-height, for example, Text figures 256.svg.

In science

Seven-segment 2.svg

Astronomy

In technology

2 as a resin identification code, used in recycling.

In religion

The number 2 is important in Judaism, with one of the earliest reference being that God ordered Noah to put two of every animal in his ark (see Noah's Ark). Later on, the Ten Commandments were given in the form of two tablets. The number also has ceremonial importance, such as the two candles that are traditionally kindled to usher in the Shabbat, recalling the two different ways Shabbat is referred to in the two times the Ten Commandments are recorded in the Torah. These two expressions are known in Hebrew as שמור וזכור ("guard" and "remember"), as in "Guard the Shabbat day to sanctify it" (Deut. 5:12) and "Remember the Shabbat day to sanctify it" (Ex. 20:8) Two challahs (lechem mishnah) are placed on the table for each Shabbat meal and a blessing made over them, to commemorate the double portion of manna which fell in the desert every Friday to cover that day's meals and the Shabbat meals

In Jewish law, the testimony of two witnesses are required to verify and validate events, such as marriage, divorce, and a crime that warrants capital punishment

"Second-Day Yom Tov" (Yom Tov Sheini Shebegaliyot) is a rabbinical enactment that mandates a two-day celebration for each of the one-day Jewish festivals (i.e., the first and seventh day of Passover, the day of Shavuot, the first day of Sukkot, and the day of Shemini Atzeret) outside the land of Israel

Numerological significance

The twos of all four suits in playing cards

The most common philosophical dichotomy is perhaps the one of good and evil, but there are many others. See dualism for an overview. In Hegelian dialectic, the process of synthesis creates two perspectives from one.

Two (二, èr) is a good number in Chinese culture. There is a Chinese saying, "good things come in pairs" (originally coined by Alysha Jivani). It is common to use double symbols in product brandnames, e.g. double happiness, double coin, double elephants etc. Cantonese people like the number two because it sounds the same as the word "easy" (易) in Cantonese.

In Finland, two candles are lit on Independence Day. Putting them on the windowsill invokes the symbolical meaning of division, and thus independence.[citation needed]

In pre-1972 Indonesian and Malay orthography, 2 was shorthand for the reduplication that forms plurals: orang "person", orang-orang or orang2 "people".[citation needed]

In Astrology, Taurus is the second sign of the Zodiac.

In other fields

Groups of two:

  • The name of several fictional characters: Number Two.
  • The position of the President of the Mess Committee at the Australian Defence Force Academy, commonly referred to as number 2, which is currently held by OCDT Dale Bogle “flamer”.
  • The designation of the Trans-Canada Highway in most of the province of New Brunswick.
  • U.S. Route 2, two separated highways in the northern tier of the United States, the western segment connecting Everett, Washington to St. Ignace, Michigan and the eastern route connecting Rouses Point, New York to Houlton, Maine.
  • The lowest channel of television in the United States, Canada, Argentina and Mexico on which television signals are broadcast.
  • In American football, a two-point conversion is a PAT where the ball crosses the goal line via run or pass. (In six-man football, however, the traditional PAT kick is worth two points, whereas a PAT via pass or run is only one point.)
  • In Association football, the scoring of two goals by one individual in a single match is referred to as a brace.
  • Brace is also used in hunting to refer to a pair. For example, "He shot a brace of pheasant".
  • "Two turtle doves" is the gift on the second day of Christmas in the carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas"

In North American educational systems, the number 2.00 denotes a grade-point average of "C," which in some colleges and universities is the minimum required for good academic standing at the undergraduate level.[5]

See also

References

  1. ^ Wells, D. The Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Numbers London: Penguin Group. (1987): 41–44
  2. ^ Bryan Bunch, The Kingdom of Infinite Number. New York: W. H. Freeman & Company (2000): 31
  3. ^ John Horton Conway & Richard K. Guy, The Book of Numbers. New York: Springer (1996): 25. "Two is celebrated as the only even prime, which in some sense makes it the oddest prime of all."
  4. ^ Georges Ifrah, The Universal History of Numbers: From Prehistory to the Invention of the Computer transl. David Bellos et al. London: The Harvill Press (1998): 393, Fig. 24.62
  5. ^ For a typical example, see the University of Oklahoma grading regulations.

External links


Translations:

Pair

Top

Dansk (Danish)
n. - par, spand
v. tr. - parre, anbringe parvis
v. intr. - parre sig, blive sat sammen to og to

idioms:

  • a safe pair of hands    grundig, dygtig
  • in pairs    i par
  • pair off    gruppere sig to og to, anbringe parvis
  • pair production    pardannelse
  • pair up    danne par

Nederlands (Dutch)
paar, tweespan, tweede van een paar (kousen etc.), koppelen, paren

Français (French)
n. - paire (de chaussures, de ciseaux, etc), couple, accouplement, attelage (de deux chevaux), deux cartes (de même valeur), (GB, Pol) deux parlementaires de partis adverses qui votent l'abstention d'un commun accord, (Chim) paire d'électrons
v. tr. - accoupler, apparier, assortir, mettre ensemble
v. intr. - former un couple, s'accoupler, s'unir

idioms:

  • a safe pair of hands    qn sur qui on peut compter
  • in pairs    deux par deux, par paires, par couples
  • pair off    former un couple, mettre ensemble, (GB, Pol) s'associer avec un membre du parti adverse pour ne pas voter
  • pair production    (Phys) conversion d'une infime quantité de radiation en un électron et un positron
  • pair up    former un couple, mettre ensemble, (GB, Pol) s'associer avec un membre du parti adverse pour ne pas voter

Deutsch (German)
n. - Paar, Pärchen, Zweier
v. - paarweise zusammenstellen, (sich) paaren

idioms:

  • a safe pair of hands    vertrauenswürdige Person
  • in pairs    paarweise, in Paaren
  • pair off    zu Paaren zusammenstellen
  • pair production    (phys.) Paarerzeugung
  • pair up    Zweiergruppen bilden

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - ζευγάρι, ζεύγος, ταίρι
v. - ζευγαρώνω, ταιριάζω

idioms:

  • a safe pair of hands    σίγουρα/έμπιστα χέρια
  • in pairs    κατά ζεύγη
  • pair off    ζευγαρώνω, ταξινομώ κατά ζεύγη
  • pair production    (φυσ.) παραγωγή ζεύγους (ηλεκτρονίων)
  • pair up    ζευγαρώνω

Italiano (Italian)
accoppiare, appaiare, unire, accoppiarsi, coppia, pariglia, paio

idioms:

  • a safe pair of hands    un buon paio di mani
  • in pairs    a coppie
  • pair off    accoppiare
  • pair production    produzione di coppie
  • pair up    accoppiarsi, far paio

Português (Portuguese)
n. - par (m), semelhante (m), acompanhante, dupla (f), casal (m)
v. - emparelhar, juntar, acasalar

idioms:

  • a safe pair of hands    em boas mãos
  • in pairs    em/aos pares
  • pair off    dispor em pares
  • pair production    produção em pares
  • pair up    emparelhar

Русский (Russian)
спаривать, спариваться, пара

idioms:

  • a safe pair of hands    умелый, клевый
  • in pairs    попарно, по двое
  • pair off    разойтись по парам
  • pair production    совместно производить
  • pair up    разойтись по парам

Español (Spanish)
n. - pareja, par, yunta, tronco
v. tr. - aparear
v. intr. - aparearse, copularse

idioms:

  • a safe pair of hands    confiable
  • in pairs    arreglados de dos en dos, por parejas, a pares
  • pair off    aparearse, emparejarse, formar pares o parejas, hacer gancho
  • pair production    producción de pares (de positones y electrones)
  • pair up    aparearse, formar pareja con, emparejar

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - par
v. - para ihop

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
一双, 一副, 一对, 使成对, 使交配, 使成配偶, 把...组成一对一对, 成对, 配对, 交配, 组成一对一对, 结婚

idioms:

  • a safe pair of hands    可信赖的人
  • in pairs    成双地, 成对地
  • pair off    成对而去, 分成一对一对
  • pair production    偶产生
  • pair up    配对, 使成搭挡, 使组成对

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 一雙, 一副, 一對
v. tr. - 使成對, 使交配, 使成配偶, 把...組成一對一對
v. intr. - 成對, 配對, 交配, 組成一對一對, 結婚

idioms:

  • a safe pair of hands    可信賴的人
  • in pairs    成雙地, 成對地
  • pair off    成對而去, 分成一對一對
  • pair production    偶產生
  • pair up    配對, 使成搭擋, 使組成對

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 한 쌍, 한 쌍의 남녀
v. tr. - 짝지어 주다, 결혼시키다
v. intr. - 한 쌍이 되다, 결혼하다, 짝짓다

idioms:

  • a safe pair of hands    인력을 염려할 필요가 없다
  • in pairs    둘이 한 쌍이 되어
  • pair off    결혼하다, 결혼시키다
  • pair up    ~와 짝이 되다, ~와 짝짓게 하다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 一対, 男女, 一つがい, 同点の札二枚, 二個, 夫婦
v. - 二人一組にする, 一対にする, 結婚させる

idioms:

  • in pairs    対で, 組で
  • pair off    二人の組に分ける, 二人ずつ去る, 二人の組に分かれる, 結婚する
  • pair production    対生成
  • pair up    対にする, 夫婦にする

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) زوج, شيء مؤلف من قطعتين متقابلتين, زوجان (فعل) يزوج, يتزوج, يقترن, يقرن, يزدوج‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮זוג, צמד, מקוזז בהצבעה, זוג נשוי, צמד סוסים‬
v. tr. - ‮סידר בזוגות, זיווג‬
v. intr. - ‮הסתדרו בזוגות, הזדווג עם, התקזזו בהצבעה‬


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