17-letter words containing a, g, c
- linking consonant — a consonant inserted between two vowels in speech
- literacy campaign — a campaign designed to reduce illiteracy and promote literacy in a country, area, etc
- logic programming — (artificial intelligence, programming, language) A declarative, relational style of programming based on first-order logic. The original logic programming language was Prolog. The concept is based on Horn clauses. The programmer writes a "database" of "facts", e.g. wet(water). ("water is wet") and "rules", e.g. mortal(X) :- human(X). ("X is mortal is implied by X is human"). Facts and rules are collectively known as "clauses". The user supplies a "goal" which the system attempts to prove using "resolution" or "backward chaining". This involves matching the current goal against each fact or the left hand side of each rule using "unification". If the goal matches a fact, the goal succeeds; if it matches a rule then the process recurses, taking each sub-goal on the right hand side of the rule as the current goal. If all sub-goals succeed then the rule succeeds. Each time a possible clause is chosen, a "choice point" is created on a stack. If subsequent resolution fails then control eventually returns to the choice point and subsequent clauses are tried. This is known as "backtracking". Clauses may contain logic variables which take on any value necessary to make the fact or the left hand side of the rule match a goal. Unification binds these variables to the corresponding subterms of the goal. Such bindings are associated with the choice point at which the clause was chosen and are undone when backtracking reaches that choice point. The user is informed of the success or failure of his first goal and if it succeeds and contains variables he is told what values of those variables caused it to succeed. He can then ask for alternative solutions.
- logical operation — Boolean operation.
- lose the exchange — to lose a rook in return for a bishop or knight
- luggage insurance — insurance against the loss of luggage while travelling
- lymphangiographic — Relating to lymphangiography.
- macdonnell ranges — a mountain system of central Australia, in S central Northern Territory, extending about 160 km (100 miles) east and west of Alice Springs. Highest peak: Mount Zeil, 1531 m (5024 ft)
- macro-linguistics — a field of study concerned with language in its broadest sense and including cultural and behavioral features associated with language.
- magellanic clouds — either of two irregular galactic clusters in the southern heavens that are the nearest independent star system to the Milky Way.
- magnetic constant — the permeability of free space, which has the value 4π × 10–7 henry per metre
- magnetic meridian — a line on the earth's surface, passing in the direction of the horizontal component of the earth's magnetic field.
- magnetic monopole — a hypothetical very heavy particle with an isolated magnetic north pole or magnetic south pole.
- magnetic roasting — roasting of a nonmagnetic ore to render it magnetic so that it can be separated from gangue by means of a magnetic field.
- magnetic rotation — Faraday effect.
- magnetizing force — that part of the magnetic induction that is determined at any point in space by the current density and displacement current at that point independently of the magnetic or other physical properties of the surrounding medium. Symbol: H.
- magnetoelasticity — the phenomenon, consisting of a change in magnetic properties, exhibited by a ferromagnetic material to which stress is applied.
- magnetoresistance — a change in the electrical resistance of a material upon exposure to a magnetic field.
- maintenance grant — an amount of money that a government or other institution gives to an individual, esp a student, in order to help them pay for the things that they need
- malagasy republic — former name of Madagascar.
- malay archipelago — an extensive island group in the Indian and Pacific oceans, SE of Asia, including the Greater and Lesser Sunda Islands, the Moluccas, and the Philippines.
- management course — a course provided by an educational establishment such as a university, which teaches skills concerning the management of a company, business, etc
- managing director — manager who oversees a project
- many-valued logic — the study of logical systems in which the truth-values that a proposition may have are not restricted to two, representing only truth and falsity
- marais des cygnes — a river in E central Kansas and W Missouri, flowing SE to the Osage River. 150 miles (241 km) long.
- margaret thatcher — Margaret (Hilda) 1925–2013, British political leader: prime minister 1979–90.
- marriage ceremony — official part of a wedding
- marriage guidance — counselling for married couples
- mass spectrograph — a mass spectroscope for recording a mass spectrum on a photographic plate.
- mechanical digger — a machine used for excavation
- medicochirurgical — pertaining to medicine and surgery.
- megaelectron volt — million electron volts.
- memetic algorithm — (algorithm) A genetic algorithm or evolutionary algorithm which includes a non-genetic local search to improve genotypes. The term comes from the Richard Dawkin's term "meme". One big difference between memes and genes is that memes are processed and possibly improved by the people that hold them - something that cannot happen to genes. It is this advantage that the memetic algorithm has over simple genetic or evolutionary algorithms. These algorithms are useful in solving complex problems, such as the "Travelling Salesman Problem," which involves finding the shortest path through a large number of nodes, or in creating artificial life to test evolutionary theories. Memetic algorithms are one kind of metaheuristic. (07 July 1997)
- mercantile agency — commercial agency.
- merchant shipping — shipping which is involved in commerce (rather than defence, etc)
- message switching — store and forward
- messier catalogue — a catalogue of 103 nonstellar objects, such as nebulae and galaxies, prepared in 1781–86. An object is referred to by its number in this catalogue, for example the Andromeda Galaxy is referred to as M31
- metatungstic acid — an oxyacid acid of tungsten. Formula: H2W4O13
- michigan bankroll — a large roll of paper money in small denominations.
- microbiologically — With regard to microbiology.
- micropaleontology — the branch of paleontology dealing with the study of microscopic fossils.
- microphotographic — Relating to microphotography.
- mid-oceanic ridge — the continuous, double-ridged chain of mountains on the ocean floor, extending through the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and into the Indian and Pacific oceans
- mikhail gorbachev — Mikhail S(ergeyevich) [mi-kahyl sur-gey-uh-vich,, mi-keyl;; Russian myi-khuh-yeel syir-gye-yi-vyich] /mɪˈkaɪl sɜrˈgeɪ ə vɪtʃ,, mɪˈkeɪl;; Russian myɪ xʌˈyil syɪrˈgyɛ yɪ vyɪtʃ/ (Show IPA), born 1931, Soviet political leader: general secretary of the Communist Party 1985–91; president of the Soviet Union 1988–91; Nobel Peace Prize 1990.
- mileage allowance — the number of miles allowed to be travelled on a rented vehicle such as a car during the period it is rented or leased
- mileage indicator — a device on a vehicle such as a car, plane, etc which indicates the number of miles travelled
- mischaracterizing — Present participle of mischaracterize.
- missing in action — If a member of the armed forces is missing in action, they have not returned from a battle, their body has not been found, and they are not thought to have been captured.
- molecular biology — the branch of biology that deals with the nature of biological phenomena at the molecular level through the study of DNA and RNA, proteins, and other macromolecules involved in genetic information and cell function, characteristically making use of advanced tools and techniques of separation, manipulation, imaging, and analysis.
- monkeygland sauce — a piquant sauce, made from tomatoes, ketchup, fruit chutney, garlic, spices, etc