Complement

[Lat. complementum -con, and pleo, to fill.] That which fills up or completes; completion; what is wanting to complete or fill up; full quantity or number; as, a ship's complement of sailors. "His complement of stores and total war." - Pope . -An appendage, or something adventitiously added by way of ornamentation. (Astron.) The distance of a star from the zenith, as compared with its altitude. (Her.) The full moon; as, "azure the moon in her complement ." (Mus.) The nece ary interval for completing the octave; as, the fourth is the complement of the fifth, the sixth of the third, . (Math.) The complement of any magnitude is a second magnitude which, added to the first, gives a sum equal to a given third magnitude. This third magnitude is purely arbitrary and conventional. Thus the complement of an angle is its defect from a right angle. The complement of a common logarithm is its defect from 10 thus.-comp. log. 2-10-301039-69897. The arithmetical complement of a number is its defect from the next higher power of ten ; thus: ar. comp. 873-1000-873-127.