"Joe E. Dees" wrote:
> I forgot to mention axioms; this isn't TOO mathematical, and
> maybe postulates (which might be).
-KMO
http://www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?db=web1913&term=Postulate&config=define
Postulate \Pos"tu*late\, n. [L. postulatum a
demand,
request, prop. p. p. of postulare to demand,
prob. a
dim. of poscere to demand, prob. for porcscere;
akin to
G. forschen to search, investigate, Skr. prach
to ask,
and L. precari to pray: cf. F. postulat. See
Pray.] 1.
Something demanded or asserted; especially, a
position or supposition assumed without proof,
or one
which is considered as self-evident; a truth to
which
assent may be demanded or challenged, without
argument or evidence.
2. (Geom.) The enunciation of a self-evident
problem,
in distinction from an axiom, which is the
enunciation
of a self-evident theorem.
The distinction between a postulate and an
axiom lies
in this, -- that the latter is admitted to be
self-evident,
while the former may be agreed upon between two
reasoners, and admitted by both, but not as
proposition which it would be impossible to
deny.
--Eng. Cyc.
Source: Webster's
Revised Unabridged Dictionary