characteristic
1 of 2noun/ˌkɛrəktəˈrɪstɪk/
Forms:characteristics
1
a notable feature or quality that defines or describes something
B1- Her kindness is a characteristic everyone notices.
- One characteristic of good friends is loyalty.
- Patience is a characteristic that helps in dealing with difficult situations.
- One characteristic of her personality is her optimism.
- Honesty is a characteristic that defines a good leader.
2
the whole number part of a logarithm, which represents the exponent of the base when expressing the number in scientific notation
- In log₁₀(500), the characteristic is 2 because 500 can be written as 5 × 10².
- For log₁₀(0.01), the characteristic is -2, as 0.01 is equivalent to 10⁻².
- The characteristic of log₁₀(10000) is 4, because 10000 is 10 raised to the power of 4.
- A positive characteristic indicates a number greater than or equal to 1, while a negative characteristic reflects numbers less than 1.
- In log₂(32), the characteristic is 5, because 32 is equal to 2⁵.