ergodic

English

Etymology

International Scientific Vocabulary ergo- +‎ -ode (+ -ic). The etymological origin is disputed: ἔργον (érgon) +‎ ὁδός (hodós, “way”) versus ἔργον (érgon) +‎ εἶδος (eîdos, “image”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɜɹˈɡɑdɪk/, /ɜɹˈɡoʊdɪk/

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Adjective

ergodic (comparative more ergodic, superlative most ergodic)

1. (mathematics, physics) Of or relating to certain systems that, given enough time, will eventually return to a previously experienced state.
   • 2020, Brian Christian, quoting Jan Leike, “Conclusion”, in The Alignment Problem, New York: W.W. Norton & Company, →ISBN:

     “The real world is not ergodic,” he says. “If I jump out of the window, that's it–it's not, like, a mistake I will learn from.”

2. (statistics, engineering) Of or relating to a process in which every sequence or sample of sufficient size is equally representative of the whole.
3. (literature, information science) Of or relating to a literary work that requires nontrivial effort on the reader's part to traverse.
   • 2012, Markku Eskelinen, Cybertext Poetics:

     Therefore this chapter moves into two directions, cybertextually expanding (and reorganizing) the field of architextuality, and specifying the ergodic variety within it.

Derived terms

• ergodic hypothesis
• ergodicity
• ergodic theory

 

Translations

of or relating to certain systems that, given enough time, will eventually return to previously experienced state

• French: ergodique (fr)
• German: ergodisch
• Greek: εργοδικός (el) (ergodikós)
• Italian: ergodico
• Swedish: ergodisk

Anagrams

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