fraktsionaalne

Fraktsionaalne is an Estonian adjective meaning fractional or relating to fractions. It is used across mathematics, physics, and engineering to describe quantities, orders, or concepts that are not integers or not entire parts of a whole.

In mathematics, fraktsionaalne describes fractional numbers, the fractional part of a real number, and non-integer orders of operations such as fractional exponents and fractional differentiation and integration (fractional calculus). It is used to refer to phenomena and methods that involve non-integer orders or scaling, as opposed to classical integer-based concepts.

In science and engineering, the term appears in contexts such as fractional Brownian motion, the fractional quantum Hall effect, and models of anomalous diffusion, where processes exhibit non-classical scaling or fractal-like behavior. Fraktsionaalne reasoning or modeling is often employed to capture dynamics that cannot be adequately described by whole-number models.

Examples of usage include references to a fraktsionaalne exponent, which denotes a non-integer power, or to the fraktsionaalne osa (fractional part) of a real number. The term is common in Estonian technical literature and forms part of compound terms derived from the root fraktsioon (fraction).