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Ab initio

The Latin term ab initio means from the beginning and is used in several contexts:

• when describing literature: told from the beginning as opposed to in medias res (meaning starting in the middle of the story). See also: List of Latin phrases

• as a legal term: See List of legal terms

• in sciences (especially physics and chemistry): from first principles. A calculation is said to be "ab initio" (or "from first principles"") if it only assumes basic and established laws and does not assume the validity of further assumptions such as models

• in military aviation: The very first stage of flight training, almost always on piston or turboprop aircraft