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—distributional, adj./dis'treuh byooh"sheuhn/, n.1. an act or instance of distributing.2. the state or manner of being distributed.3. arrangement; classification.4. something that is distributed.5. the frequency of occurrence or the natural geographic range or place where any item or category of items occurs: What is the distribution of coniferous forests in the world?6. placement, location, arrangement, or disposition: The distribution of our troops is a military secret.7. apportionment: The court decided the distribution of the property among the heirs.8. the delivery or giving out of an item or items to the intended recipients, as mail or newspapers.9. the total number of an item delivered, sold, or given out: The distribution of our school paper is now 800.10. the marketing, transporting, merchandising, and selling of any item.11. (in bridge and other card games) the way in which the suits of a deck of cards are, or one specific suit is, divided or apportioned in one player's hand or among the hands of all the players: My distribution was six spades, four hearts, two clubs, and a singleton diamond.12. Econ.a. the division of the aggregate income of any society among its members, or among the factors of production.b. the system of dispersing goods throughout a community.13. Statistics. a set of values or measurements of a set of elements, each measurement being associated with an element.14. Math. a generalized function used esp. in solving differential equations.[1375-1425; late ME ( < AF) < L distribution- (s. of distributio). See DISTRIBUTE, -ION]
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▪ logicalso called Distribution Of Terms,in syllogistics, the application of a term of a proposition to the entire class that the term denotes. A term is said to be distributed in a given proposition if that proposition implies all other propositions that differ from it only in having, in place of the original term, any other term whose extension is a part of that of the original term—i.e., if, and only if, the term as it is used in that occurrence covers all the members of the class that it denotes.Thus, in a proposition of the form “No S is P,” both the subject and the predicate are distributed. In the form “Some S is P,” neither S nor P is distributed. In “Every S is P,” S is distributed, but P is not. Lastly, in “Some S is not P,” S is not distributed, but P is. Briefly, only universal propositions distribute the subject term (S), and only negative propositions distribute their predicate (P). Naturally, singular terms (including proper names used as singular terms) are always distributed, for they refer only to one object and cannot refer to fewer.The importance of distribution lies in its being a principle of formal inference that no term may be distributed in the conclusion unless it was distributed in the premises.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
