Center: Encyclopedia - Center

Center

Center (American English) or centre (Commonwealth English) has a number of meanings.

1. In geometry, a point that is well-distant from the boundaries of a figure. For instance, for a circle, the center is defined as the point equidistant from all points on the circle's boundary. Similar definitions can be made for other shapes in various geometries, though for arbitrary complex shapes there may be several definitions considered appropriate in some circumstances. See also center of symmetry.
2. The standard name given to a position on the field in several sports, such as American football, basketball, netball, amongst others. See: center (American football), Center (basketball), centre (rugby), centre (ice hockey).
3. The center of power in a country is the capital.
4. Major social or political movements often have one or more centers or headquarters around which they are focussed and from where they are directed.
5. Centre is a low-lying region of France in the center of the country.
6. Cities often are said to have a center; it is also called "downtown" in North America.
7. In abstract algebra, the center of a group is the subgroup consisting of those elements which commute with all other elements. Similar definitions of center apply to other algebraic structures, for example, center (algebra).
8. In politics, the Centrism is the middle ground between the left wing and the right wing. (See also Center Party.)
9. In music, in tonal music the central or most important pitch is the tonic, while in atonal music a pitch which acts referentially or the center of an interval cycle is a pitch center.
10. Is a liberal arts college in Danville, KY, US.
11. There are several towns named Center in the United States:
    • Center, Colorado
    • Center, Missouri
    • Center, Nebraska
    • Center, North Dakota
    • Center, Outagamie County, Wisconsin
    • Center, Rock County, Wisconsin
    • Center, Texas
    There are also places named Centerville and Central.
12. In India, the Center refers to federal (all-India) politics at New Delhi.
13. In chess, the center refers to either the central four squares (d4,e4,d5,e5) or the central 16 squares (c3-c6,d3-d6,e3-e6,f3-f6), which are strategically important in all phases of the game. Pieces in the center generally possess more activity and have a greater impact on the game than those that do not.
14. Center is also the name a famous Russian-speaking band
15. Center refers to centers as used in machining operations.
16. A center can also mean a department within a hospital or other public service building. For instance: The physiotherapy center, the outpatients' center.
17. A center can also be a building or group of buildings dedicated to a particular purpose, such as: The shopping center, the dance center, the arts center, the community center, the information center, the garden center.
18. In the Fourth Way philosophy of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky a center is a human biological, psychological and spiritual nexus of energy process, equivilent to the concept of a Chakra.

See also

• Center of gravity
• central

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Center", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki