pathological: adj. 1. [scientific computation] Used of a data
set that is grossly atypical of normal expected input, esp. one
that exposes a weakness or bug in whatever algorithm one is using.
An algorithm that can be broken by pathological inputs may still be
useful if such inputs are very unlikely to occur in practice. 2.
When used of test input, implies that it was purposefully engineered
as a worst case. The implication in both senses is that the data is
spectacularly ill-conditioned or that someone had to explicitly set
out to break the algorithm in order to come up with such a crazy
example. 3. Also said of an unlikely collection of circumstances.
"If the network is down and comes up halfway through the execution
of that command by root, the system may just crash." "Yes, but
that's a pathological case." Often used to dismiss the case from
discussion, with the implication that the consequences are
acceptable, since they will happen so infrequently (if at all) that
it doesn't seem worth going to the extra trouble to handle that case
(see sense 1).
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