The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
analysis
branch of mathematics that utilizes the concepts and methods of the calculus. It includes not only basic calculus, but also advanced calculus, in which such underlying concepts as that of a limit are subjected to rigorous examination; differential and integral equations, in which the unknowns are functions rather than numbers, as in algebraic equations; complex variable analysis, in which the variables are of the form z=x+iy, where i is the imaginary unit; vector analysis and tensor analysis; differential geometry; and many other fields.
