What is ideal?

  • (adj): Of or relating to the philosophical doctrine of the reality of ideas.
    Synonyms: idealistic
    See also — Additional definitions below

Some articles on ideal:

Gas - Special Topics - Compressibility
... use this factor (Z) to alter the ideal gas equation to account for compressibility effects of real gases ... This factor represents the ratio of actual to ideal specific volumes ... or correction to expand the useful range of the ideal gas law for design purposes ...
Ideal, South Dakota
... Ideal is an unincorporated community in northern Tripp County, South Dakota, United States, named for its superb farmland ...
Springthorpe Memorial - Architectural Features and Influences
... of conceiving a ``whole is more than a Tomb …is the Real made Ideal - an apotheosis of love for all true lovers to the end of Time with its tale of loss, memory ... Fascinated by concepts of the ideal woman, Springthorpe had delivered a paper, several years earlier, entitled ‘The Perfect Woman’ in which he concluded that Shakespeare’s Rosalind was the ideal ... Annie seems to be likened to this ideal in the inscription “Pattern Daughter, Perfect Mother, and Ideal Wife” ...
Cardinal Point (optics) - Modeling Optical Systems As Mathematical Transformations - Ideal, Rotationally Symmetric, Optical Imaging System
... An ideal, rotationally symmetric, optical imaging system must meet three criteria All rays "originating" from any object point converge to a single image point (Imaging is ... systems imaging is stigmatic for one or perhaps a few object points, but to be an ideal system imaging must be stigmatic for every object point ...
Leverage
... An ideal mechanism transmits power without adding to or subtracting from it ... This means the ideal mechanism does not include a power source, and is frictionless and constructed from rigid bodies that do not deflect or wear ... The performance of real systems is obtained from this ideal by using efficiency factors that take into account friction, deformation and wear ...

More definitions of "ideal":

  • (noun): The idea of something that is perfect; something that one hopes to attain.
  • (adj): Constituting or existing only in the form of an idea or mental image or conception.
    Example: "A poem or essay may be typical of its period in idea or ideal content"
  • (adj): Conforming to an ultimate standard of perfection or excellence; embodying an ideal.

Famous quotes containing the word ideal:

    You’ll never succeed in idealizing hard work. Before you can dig mother earth you’ve got to take off your ideal jacket. The harder a man works, at brute labour, the thinner becomes his idealism, the darker his mind.
    —D.H. (David Herbert)

    Most fatal, most hateful of all things is bullying.... Sensual bullying of course is fairly easily detected. What is more dangerous is ideal bullying. Bullying people into what is ideally good for them.
    —D.H. (David Herbert)

    blind wantons like the gulls who scream
    And rip the edge off any ideal or dream.
    Louis MacNeice (1907–1963)