Alligation

1 definition found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Alligation \Al`li*ga"tion\, n. [L. alligatio.]
     1. The act of tying together or attaching by some bond, or
        the state of being attached. [R.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Arith.) A rule relating to the solution of questions


        concerning the compounding or mixing of different
        ingredients, or ingredients of different qualities or
        values.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: The rule is named from the method of connecting
           together the terms by certain ligature-like signs.
           Alligation is of two kinds, medial and alternate;
           medial teaching the method of finding the price or
           quality of a mixture of several simple ingredients
           whose prices and qualities are known; alternate,
           teaching the amount of each of several simple
           ingredients whose prices or qualities are known, which
           will be required to make a mixture of given price or
           quality.
           [1913 Webster]