Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) decimal system [Lat.,=of tenths], numeration system based on powers of 10. A number is written as a row of digits, with each position in the row corresponding to a certain power of 10. A decimal point...

(Encyclopedia) banner system, Manchu conscription system. Companies of Manchu warriors were grouped (1601) into brigades, each with a distinctive banner. The banner system integrated former tribal units into a burea...

(Encyclopedia) seignorial system: see manorial system; feudalism. ...

(Encyclopedia) borstal system bôrˈstəl [key], rehabilitation method formerly used in Great Britain for delinquent boys aged 16 to 21. The idea originated (1895) with the Gladstone Committee as an attempt to refor...

(Encyclopedia) clearing, in banking, the periodic settling of bankers' claims against each other, for which local banks establish clearinghouse associations. Clearinghouses are said to have existed in Florence by a....

(Encyclopedia) steering system, in automobiles, steering wheel, gears, linkages, and other components used to control the direction of a vehicle's motion. Because of friction between the front tires and the road, es...

(Encyclopedia) Continental System, scheme of action adopted by Napoleon I in his economic warfare with England from 1806 to 1812. Economic warfare had been carried on before 1806, but the system itself was initiated...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 metric system, system of weights and measures planned in France and adopted there in 1799; it has since been adopted by most of the technologically developed countries of the world. It is based...

(Encyclopedia) manorial system sēnyôrˈēəl [key], economic and social system of medieval Europe under which peasants' land tenure and production were regulated, and local justice and taxation were administered. ...

(Encyclopedia) Federal Hall National Memorial: see National Parks and Monuments (table)national parks and monuments (table). ...