a. [ad. L. additīv-us, f. addit- ppl. stem of add-ĕre to ADD; see -IVE.] Characterized by, or tending to, addition; to be added.
1699. in Phil. Trans., XXI. 352. Additive Ratio is that whose Terms are dispos’d to Addition, that is, to Composition.
1751. Chambers, Cycl., s.v., Suppose the line ac divided in the points b and x, the ratio between ab and bx is additive; because the terms ab and bx compose the whole ax.
1833. Sir J. Herschel, Astron., v. 202. The quantity by which the true longitude of the earth differs from the mean longitude … is additive during all the half-year.
1840. Carlyle, Heroes, iv. (1858), 279. The general sum of such work is great; for … all of it is additive, none of it subtractive.
