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We all know the favorite part of your Friday is receiving Dr. Pantozzi's email with the math word of the week, so we at Starboard have decided to compile a list of our 8 favorite math words of the week so you can figure out which math word of the week best reflects your personality.

Math Word Of The Week Quiz

**What is your favorite subject in school?**

imaginary (adjective): from Late Latin _imaginarius_ “seeming, fancied,” and Latin _imaginari_ “picture to oneself.” Also literally, “pertaining to an image,” in the sense of “an imitation, a copy, a likeness”, from _imago_ “an image, a likeness,” from the stem of _imitari_ “to copy, imitate.”   
The word _image_ in the sense of “portrait, picture, painting or drawing” as a physical object then evolved into an image as a strictly mental thing. That led to the meaning “which exists only in the mind'' or "not real, existing only in fancy," by the late 14th century. Sense of “suppose, assume” is also first recorded at that time.   
In geometry, an image is a copy of another object, not necessarily of the same size.    
  
With math, humans study actual physical objects as well as “objects” that exist only in our imagination.  Ever hear about the 4th dimension?   
  
High school students will also be familiar with the notion of “imaginary numbers”, which were so named because initially people couldn’t find a “real,” physical counterpart for them.

Imaginary (adjective)

"a solid figure bounded by eight plane faces," 1560s, from Greek _oktahedron_, from _okta-_ "eight" + _hedra_ "a seat; face of a geometrical solid”  The word _hedra_ comes from the older root [**sed-**](https://www.etymonline.com/word/*sed-?ref=etymonline_crossreference#etymonline_v_52569) (1) "to sit." (as seen in the words _sedentary_, or _sedate_) In geometry, a [regular octahedron](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/Octahedron.gif) is a polyhedron with eight faces, twelve edges, and six vertices. Other   
_Octane_  is the hydrocarbon of the methane series, 1872, coined from _oct-_ "eight" (see [**octa-**](https://www.etymonline.com/word/octa-?ref=etymonline_crossreference)) + [**\-ane**](https://www.etymonline.com/word/-ane?ref=etymonline_crossreference); so called because it has eight carbon atoms. A fuel's _octane rating_, in reference to its anti-knocking quality, is attested from 1932.  
  
_Octave_ is from the Latin _octava dies_ "eighth day," fem. of _octavus_ "eighth," from _octo_ (see [**eight**](https://www.etymonline.com/word/eight?ref=etymonline_crossreference)). Originally "period of eight days after a festival," also "eighth day after a festival" (counting both days, by inclusive reckoning; thus if the festival was on a Sunday, the octaves would be the following Sunday). The sense of "stanza of eight lines" is from 1580s; musical sense of "note eight diatonic degrees above (or below) a given note" is from 1650.

Octahedron (noun)

from Latin _co_\- (q.v.) “together with” and _plere_\- “to fill.”. A complement is an amount that must be added to another quantity to “fill it out” or complete it.  In geometry, the complement of an acute angle is the angle that must be added to it to make a right angle. In trigonometry, the cosine is the “complementary sine” because it calculates the ratio of the complementary angle in the triangle.  
  
The identically pronounced but differently spelled English word _compliment_ is etymologically the same as _complement_: a verbal compliment is something given to you that might make you feel “fulfilled.”  
The musical sense of “simple interval that completes an octave from another simple interval” is from 1873. For example, a major 3rd is the complement of a minor 6th.

Complementary (adjective)

To extend the edges or planes of a [polyhedron](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/polyhedron) to form a new shape. From the Latin _stella_ “star,” from the Indo-European root _ster_\- “star.”  Starting with an original figure, the process extends specific elements such as its edges or face planes, usually in a symmetrical way, until they meet each other again to form the closed boundary of a new figure. The new figure is a _stellation_ of the original. See [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wptPY2VDT00&t) for a video of a stellation.   
This can lead to a huge number of possible forms, so further criteria are often imposed to reduce the set to those stellations that are significant and unique in some way.  
  
Stellated polyhedra may also be formed by attaching the appropriate pyramid to each face of certain polyhedra. The result is a type of three-dimensional star.   
stellar (adj.) 1650s, "”pertaining to stars, star-like, rom Late Latin _stellaris_ “pertaining to a star, starry,” Meaning “outstanding, leading” (1883) is from the theatrical sense of _star_.  
  
stellar (adj.) 1650s, “pertaining to stars, star-like”,from Late Latin stellaris “pertaining to a star, starry”. Meaning “outstanding, leading” (1883) is from the theatrical sense of star, meaning “lead performer”  from 1824; “star turn” is from 1898.  
  
Stellate cells are neurons in the [central nervous system](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_nervous_system), named for their star-like shape formed by [dendritic processes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dendrite) radiating from the cell body

Stellate (verb)

_Folium_: a Latin word meaning “leaf.” The Indo-European root is the word _bhel_\- “to thrive, to bloom”. Related borrowings from French include _foil_ and _flower_. In mathematics _folia_ (plural of _folium_) are curves with “leaves” or loops.  
The English word _folio_ is from the mid-15c., from Late Latin _folio_ "leaf or sheet of paper," from Latin _folio_, ablative of _folium_ “leaf”.   
  
_Portfolio_ a “movable receptacle for detached papers or prints,” 1722, from _porto folio_ or _port folio_, from Italian _portafoglio_ "a case for carrying loose papers," from porta, imperative of _portare_ “to carry” + _foglio_ "sheet, leaf," from Latin folium.

Folium (noun)

via French, from Latin _valentia_ “capacity,” from the present participle of _valere_ “to be strong, vigorous, healthy, worthy.”  In mathematics the valence of a vertex in a graph is the number of paths that meet at that vertex.  (From _valere_ we also derive the word _value._)  
  
In Chemistry, the sense of "relative combining capacity of an element with other atoms when forming compounds or molecules" is recorded from 1884. Valence diagrams of a compound represent the connectivity of the elements, with lines drawn between two elements, sometimes called bonds, representing a saturated valency for each element.   
  
[Valency](https://www.thoughtco.com/valency-grammar-1692484) can also refer to the capacity of a verb to take a specific number and type of arguments (noun phrase positions). "Like atoms, words tend not to occur in isolation but to combine with other words to form larger units: the number and type of other elements with which a word can occur is a very important part of its grammar. As with atoms, the ability of words to combine in this way with other words is called valency. (Thomas Herbst, David Heath, Ian F. Roe, and Dieter Götz, _A Valency Dictionary of English: A Corpus-Based Analysis of the Complementation Patterns of English Verbs, Nouns, ​and Adjectives_. Mouton de Gruyter, 2004)​

Valence (noun)

 "a word or line that reads the same backward and forward," 1620s, from Greek _palindromos_ "a recurrence," literally "a running back."  
  
From _palin_ "again, back," from a  Proto-Indo-European word meaning to  "revolve, move round."  
  
and _dromos_ "a race course," or a “running” from _dramein_ "to run."  
In mathematics a palindrome is a numeral like 36763 whose digits read the same forwards or backwards; once you reach the middle of the numeral, the digits “run back” through the same sequence. The term palindrome is also applied to words or phrases that read the same in either direction, like “Never odd or even”  
  
Wednesday, January 20, 2021, Inauguration Day, marks the beginning of a 10-day palindrome stretch. For 10 consecutive days, we’ll be treated to five-digit palindrome dates, which are common usage in the U.S. These dates read the same forward as they do backward:  
  
 “In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni” is a Latin palindrome doubling as a riddle. It’s variously translated as “We enter the circle at night and are consumed by fire” or “We turn in circles in the night and are devoured by fire.” The answer to the riddle: moths.

Palindrome (noun)

a native English word with a surprising meaning that will delight the hearts of elementary teachers involved with regrouping. The word twelve comes from a presumed Germanic compound twa-lif “two-leave,” since 2 units are left over after you take away the base 10. The Indo-European roots are dwo- “two” and leik- “to leave.” Compare the same sort of regrouping inherent in eleven. Also compare the two-ness in English words like twin and twain (as in Mark Twain and “never the twain shall meet”). \[48, 114\]

Twelve (numeral)

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Math Word Of The Week Quiz

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