In statistics, any of several fundamental theorems in probability. Originally known as the law of errors, in its classic form it states that the sum of a set of independent random variables will approach a normal distribution regardless of the distribution of the individual variables themselves, given certain general conditions. Further, the mean (see mean, median, and mode) of the normal distribution will coincide with the (arithmetic) mean of the (statistical) means of each random variable.
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Administration of territory by an occupying power. The definition does not cover military forces stationed in neutral or friendly territory that share administrative responsibilities with local civil authorities. Military government must also be distinguished from military law and martial law. Its control lasts until it either gives up power voluntarily or is overthrown. The term is popularly used for rule of a country by its own military, whether it comes to power through a coup d'état or is the legitimate governing body.
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Forecast of governmental expenditures and revenues for the ensuing fiscal year. In modern industrial economies, the budget is the key instrument for the execution of government economic policies. Because government budgets may promote or retard economic growth in certain areas of the economy and because views about priorities in government spending differ widely, government budgets are the focus of competing political interests. In the U.S. the federal budget is prepared by the president's Office of Management and Budget. The U.S. Congress has considerable input, influencing the budget's preparation through negotiations with the president and considering it in detail on its official submission to Congress.
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Political system by which a body of people is administered and regulated. Different levels of government typically have different responsibilities. The level closest to those governed is local government. Regional governments comprise a grouping of individual communities. National governments nominally control all the territory within internationally recognized borders and have responsibilities not shared by their subnational counterparts. Most governments exercise executive, legislative (see legislature), and judicial (see judiciary) powers and split or combine them in various ways. Some also control the religious affairs of their people; others avoid any involvement with religion. Political forms at the national level determine the powers exercised at the subnational levels; these have included autocracy, democracy, fascism, monarchy, oligarchy, plutocracy (government by the wealthy), theocracy, and totalitarianism.
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Institution, such as the U.S. Federal Reserve System, charged with regulating the size of a nation's money supply, the availability and cost of credit, and the foreign exchange value of its currency (see foreign exchange). Central banks act as the fiscal agent of the government, issuing notes to be used as legal tender, supervising the operations of the commercial banking system, and implementing monetary policy. By increasing or decreasing the supply of money and credit, they affect interest rates, thereby influencing the economy. Modern central banks regulate the money supply by buying and selling assets (e.g., through the purchase or sale of government securities). They may also raise or lower the discount rate to discourage or encourage borrowing by commercial banks. By adjusting the reserve requirement (the minimum cash reserves that banks must hold against their deposit liabilities), central banks contract or expand the money supply. Their aim is to maintain conditions that support a high level of employment and production and stable domestic prices. Central banks also take part in cooperative international currency arrangements designed to help stabilize or regulate the foreign exchange rates of participating countries. Central banks have become varied in authority, autonomy, functions, and instruments of action, but there has been consistent increased emphasis on the interdependence of monetary and other national economic policies, especially fiscal policies and debt management policies. Seealso bank; investment bank; savings bank.
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Plateau region, south-central France. It is bordered by the lowlands of Aquitaine, the Loire basin, the Rhône-Saône valley, and the Mediterranean coastlands of Languedoc. Comprising about one-sixth of France, it occupies an area of 35,006 sq mi (90,665 sq km). It consists mainly of plateaus with elevations of 2,000 to 3,000 ft (600 to 900 m). Its highest peak is Puy de Sancy, which reaches 6,184 ft (1,885 m). It is the source of many rivers, including the Loire, Allier, Cher, and Creuse.
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Valley, Chile. Located in central Chile between the Western Cordillera of the Andes Mountains and the coastal range, it extends about 400 mi (650 km) from the Chacabuco Range in the north to the Bío-Bío River in the south. The agricultural heartland of Chile, it was the original centre of European colonization beginning in the mid-1500s, and it continues to be home to most Chileans. Santiago is at its northern end.
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World War I coalition that was defeated by the Allied Powers. Its primary members were the German empire and Austria-Hungary, the “central” European states that were at war from August 1914 against France, Britain, and Russia. The Ottoman empire entered the war on the side of the Central Powers in October 1914, followed by Bulgaria in October 1915.
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Public park, New York, New York, U.S. Located in Manhattan, it occupies an area of 840 acres (340 hectares). It was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and opened in 1876; it was artificially landscaped to create an impression of wild and varied terrain. It includes footpaths and bicycle paths, athletic fields, boating lakes, and a zoo. Free public concerts and performances are frequent, notably the Shakespeare in the Park series at an open-air theatre. The Metropolitan Museum of Art adjoins the park.
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Principal intelligence and counterintelligence agency of the U.S., established in 1947 as a successor to the World War II-era Office of Strategic Services. The law limits its activities to foreign countries; it is prohibited from gathering intelligence on U.S. soil, which is a responsibility of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Officially a part of the U.S. Defense Department, it is responsible for preparing analyses for the National Security Council. Its budget is kept secret. Though intelligence gathering is its chief occupation, the CIA has also been involved in many covert operations, including the expulsion of Mohammad Mosaddeq from Iran (1953), the attempted Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba (1961), and support of the Nicaraguan contras in the 1980s.
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According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 249.4 square miles (646.1 km²), of which, 247.9 square miles (642.2 km²) of it is land and 1.5 square miles (3.9 km²) of it (0.60%) is water.
There were 67 households out of which 14.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.3% were married couples living together, 1.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 50.7% were non-families. 43.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.00 and the average family size was 2.82.
In the CDP the population was spread out with 20.1% under the age of 18, 3.7% from 18 to 24, 27.6% from 25 to 44, 41.8% from 45 to 64, and 6.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 females there were 135.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 143.2 males.
The median income for a household in the CDP was $36,875, and the median income for a family was $41,250. Males had a median income of $60,750 versus $24,375 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $22,593. There were 15.8% of families and 22.5% of the population living below the poverty line, including 34.6% of under eighteens and none of those over 64.