science

Of Matters Great and Small

Of Matters Great and Small is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Of Matters Great and Small rather than just read about it. In short: Of Matters Great and Small is a collection of seventeen scientific essays by American writer and scientist Isaac Asimov. It was the eleventh of a series of books collecting essays from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, although it also includes one essay from Science Digest.

Key takeaways

Of Matters Great and Small belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Of Matters Great and Small to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Of Matters Great and Small from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Of Matters Great and Small is a collection of seventeen scientific essays by American writer and scientist Isaac Asimov. It was the eleventh of a series of books collecting essays from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, although it also includes one essay from Science Digest. It was first published by Doubleday & Company in 1975.

Contents "Constant as the Northern Star" (F&SF, August 1973) "Signs of the Times" (September 1973) "The Mispronounced Metal" (October 1973) "The Figure of the Fastest" (November 1973) "The Figure of the Farthest" (December 1973) "The Eclipse and I" (January 1974) "Dance of the Luminaries" (February 1974) "The Uneternal Atoms" (March 1974) "A Particular Matter" (April 1974) "At Closest Range" (May 1974) "The Double-Ended Candle" (June 1974) "The Inevitability of Life" (Science Digest, June 1974) "As Easy as Two Plus Three" (F&SF, July 1974) "Updating the Asteroids" (August 1974) "Look Long upon a Monkey" (September 1974) "O Keen-eyed Peerer into the Future!" (October 1974) "Skewered!" (November 1974)

References

External links Asimovonline.com

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Of Matters Great and Small

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Of Matters Great and Small claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Of Matters Great and Small before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Of Matters Great and Small ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Of Matters Great and Small

In research: Of Matters Great and Small appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Of Matters Great and Small in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Of Matters Great and Small is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1975 books, Doubleday (publisher) books, Essay collections by Isaac Asimov, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Of Matters Great and Small outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Of Matters Great and Small” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Of Matters Great and Small in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Of Matters Great and Small means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Of Matters Great and Small out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Of Matters Great and Small in simple terms?

Why does Of Matters Great and Small matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Of Matters Great and Small?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Of Matters Great and Small.