rationalism

n 1: the doctrine that knowledge is acquired by reason without

resort to experience

2: the theological doctrine that human reason rather than

divine revelation establishes religious truth

3: the doctrine that reason is the right basis for regulating

conduct [syn: {freethinking}]

rational

[Mathematics] a fractional number n/d, where n and d are

integers, n is the numerator and d is the denominator. The

set of all rational numbers is usually called Q.

Computers do not usually deal with rational numbers but

instead convert them to {real} numbers which are represented

(approximately in some cases) as {floating-point} numbers.

Compare {irrational}.