logistic

Meanings

Adjective

• Relating to symbolic logic.
• Relating to the logistic function.
• Using sexagesimal fractions, especially in arithmetic or logarithms.
• Relating to basic arithmetic.
• Skilled in calculating.
• Proportional.
• Relating to logistics.

Noun

• A logistic function or graph of a logistic curve.
• The art of calculation.
• Sexagesimal arithmetic.

Origin

• From French logistique, from Ancient Greek λογιστικός ("practiced in arithmetic; rational"), from λογίζομαι, from λόγος, whence English logos, logic, logarithm, etc.; modern mathematical use influenced by related logarithmic.
• Sense of “logistic function” by Pierre François Verhulst (1845) in French, then borrowed into English.{{cite-journal|first= Pierre-François |last=Verhulst |year= 1845| title = Recherches mathématiques sur la loi d'accroissement de la population | journal = Nouveaux Mémoires de l'Académie Royale des Sciences et Belles-Lettres de Bruxelles |volume = 18| pages = 1–42 | url = http://gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de/dms/load/img/?PPN=PPN129323640_0018&DMDID=dmdlog7| accessdate = 2013-02-18|trans-title= Mathematical Researches into the Law of Population Growth Increase
• |page=8
• |pageurl=https://gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de/id/PPN129323640_0018?tify={%22pages%22:%5B21%5D,%22view%22:%22info%22}
• |passage=Nous donnerons le nom de logistique à la courbe // We will give the name logistic to the curve
• Verhulst does not explain his choice of naming, but he contrasts it with the logarithmic curve (also from λόγος), and it is presumably by analogy with arithmetic and geometric (other divisions of mathematics), as his discussion of arithmetic growth and geometric growth precede his discussion of logistic growth.
• The term logistic and logistical also found occasional mathematical use in English prior to 1800, from the same Greek origin.
• From French logistique, from loger or logis.