Construct · 3 fields · 4 citations

Where does base collide?

One name. Different field. Different construct. One map.

● jingle · one word, three constructs Nearest construct by meaningmodecompare the meanings
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Every construct on the map is compared with every other by the meaning of its definitions, and the closest one is surfaced here. The nearest construct to base is mode.

Hold this as a prompt, not a verdict. Two constructs sitting close in meaning is a reason to read them side by side and decide for yourself whether they are one idea under two names. It is not proof that they are. Compare the meanings in the Collider.

base3 CONSTRUCTSProton acceptorBRØNSTED · PROTONRadixKNUTH · RADIXEconomic baseMARX · ECONOMIC

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1859Economic base1923Proton acceptor1997Radix
2026

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Chemistry

a substance that accepts a proton or donates an electron pair, neutralizing an acid.

In chemistry a base is a substance that accepts a proton or donates an electron pair, neutralizing an acid. Brønsted and Lowry defined it in 1923 as a proton acceptor, the partner of an acid that gives a proton up; Lewis widened it the same year to any species that donates a lone electron pair. The referent is a molecule or ion, the unit is a chemical species, and what marks a base is how it behaves toward protons or electrons in solution, often summed up by a pH above 7. This has nothing in common with the other meanings but the four letters: an ammonia molecule accepting a proton is not the foundation of anything mathematical, social, or military.[1][2]

Unit
A chemical species that accepts protons or donates an electron pair
Recovery means
Not applicable
Measured by
Base dissociation constant (pKb), proton affinity, or a pH above 7 in aqueous solution

Mathematics

the count of distinct digits in a positional number system and the value each place is multiplied by.

In a positional number system the base, or radix, is the count of distinct digits used and the value each place is multiplied by as it moves left. Base ten uses ten digits and powers of ten; base two, the basis of digital computing, uses two. Knuth sets out the arithmetic of radix systems in The Art of Computer Programming. The referent is a number, the unit is an integer greater than one, and a base here is a convention for writing quantities, not a substance, a society, or a place. Changing the base rewrites a number without changing what it counts, which is why this meaning answers to nothing the chemical or economic meanings care about.[3]

Unit
An integer greater than one, the radix of a positional system
Recovery means
Not applicable
Measured by
The count of distinct digits, or the fixed number raised to a power in an exponent or logarithm

Social theory

the economic foundation of a society, its forces and relations of production, on which a superstructure rises.

In Marx's social theory the base is the economic foundation of a society, the forces and relations of production on which a legal, political, and ideological superstructure rises. In the 1859 preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy Marx wrote that the mode of production of material life conditions the social, political, and intellectual life process in general. The referent is a whole society's economic structure, the unit is a mode of production, and the base is said to shape, though not simply dictate, the superstructure above it. It shares the image of a foundation with the military meaning but names an abstract economic order, not a walled installation on the ground.[4]

Unit
A society's mode of production, its forces and relations
Recovery means
Not applicable
Measured by
Read from the organization of production and property relations, not from a scale

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Nearby collisions

order4 fields · 6 citationsjingle · one word, four constructspower6 fields · 13 citationsjingle · one name, six constructsinstitution3 fields · 4 citationsjingle · one word, three constructs

References

  1. Brønsted, J. N. (1923). Einige Bemerkungen über den Begriff der Säuren und Basen. Recueil des Travaux Chimiques des Pays-Bas, 42(8), 718–728.
  2. Lewis, G. N. (1923). Valence and the structure of atoms and molecules. Chemical Catalog Company.
  3. Knuth, D. E. (1997). The art of computer programming, Vol. 2: Seminumerical algorithms (3rd ed.). Addison-Wesley.
  4. Marx, K. (1859). A contribution to the critique of political economy. Franz Duncker.

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