CONSTRUCTION

(Lat. con, with, and struo, I pile up.) In Architecture, literally the building up from the architect's designs; but amongst architects it is more particularly used to denote the art of distributing the different forces and strains of the parts and materials of a building in so scientific a manner as to avoid failure and ensure durability. CONSTRUCTION OF EQUATIONS, in Algebra, is the representing of the roots of equations by means of the intersections of geometrical lines. The roots of any algebraic equation may be represented by the intersection of a straight line with a curve of the same dimensions as the proposed equation, the roots of the equation being the ordinates or the points of intersection. An equation of any degree may also be constructed by means of two curves, whose dimensions, multiplied together, produce the dimensions of the given equation. Thus, a quadratic equation may be constructed hj the intersection of a straight line with a circle, or with any conic section; a cubic equation by the intersection of a straight line with a line of the third order; a biquadratic by the intersection of a straight line with a line of the fourth order, or by means of two conic sections. [s. 288]