what's nth, in math?

Answer 1

It's like 1st, 2nd, etc.

You write the 7th as "seventh."
You write the 12th as "twelfth."
You write the nth the same way.

This has many applications in math.

Example:
Say you have a sequence where each number is the previous number times 10 and the first number is 0.1.
The sequence begins as: 0.1, 1, 10, ...
You can see that the 1st term is 0.1, the 2nd term is 1, and the 3rd term is 10. You may be asked what the nth term is. You can then write the sequence as: 10^(n-2).

You can write out that sequence like so:
n=1 --> First term is 10^(1-2) = 0.1
n=2 --> Second term is 10^(2-2) = 1
n=3 --> Third term is 10^(3-2) = 10

So, if you were asked to figure out the seventh term of that sequence, you just look at the nth number where n=7 --> Seventh term is 10^(7-2) = 100,000.

Another use for nth is for exponents, such as the second power, the fourth power, or the nth power.

It also applies to the order of a polynomial.

Example:
x^2 + x + 1 is a second-order polynomial because the highest exponent is 2.
x^5 + x^4 + x^3 + x^2 + x^1 + 1 is a fifth order polynomial because the highest exponent is 5.
x^n + x^(n-1) + ... + x^2 + x^ + 1 is an nth order polynomial.

Answer 2

nth is a special case of what's called an ordinal number, meaning one that marks a place in a line. You know how four is just a number, but if you add th, fourth, it means the fourth one in line? nth is the same way. It means, pick any number n, and that's the nth one in the line. So if n=4, then the nth one is the fourth one. It's used for the same reason n is--because you don't know how many. So, for instance, suppose I was calculating the average grade in your class. I don't know how many students there are, so I'll call the number n. I add each grade until I come to the nth one, then divide by n.

Answer 3

nth, adjective.
1. last in the series 1,2,3,4, ... n; being of the indefinitely large or small amount denoted by n:
Ex. the nth term in a series, the nth power of a number.
2. (Informal, Figurative.) umpteenth.
Ex. I was reading Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson's "A Modern Symposium" for the nth time the other day (London Times).
expr. to the nth degree, to the utmost.

Answer 4

nth is usually used as a term or power. it is similar to a variable, but its more of a placeholder - the nth power of x could be the 7th power of x or the 3rd power or the 1/2 power. Whatever power, but it is treated as a constant, not a variable. It's especially useful in sequences and series.

Answer 5

n is a variable, so if you say to the nth degree or the nth power, it just means to whatever degree you plug in for n. hope it helped.

Answer 6

n in math is often used to represent an integer quantity. It is also often used as the subscript for terms in a series, so the in the series
x(sub1), x(sub2), ... , x(subn) the last term is called the nth term.

Answer 7

exponents, base raised to the nth degree,

Answer 8

Raised to some power.

Not ruling power.