Crossword clues for secant
secant
- Geometer's straight line
- Curve intersector
- Trigonometry term
- Line intersecting a curve
- Mathematician's line is able to divide group
- Trigonometry function
- Geometry term
- Trig measure
- Straight line through a circle
- Right-triangle reciprocal
- Reciprocal of cosine
- Line that intersects a curve at two points
- Line that cuts another
- Intersecting line
- Hypotenuse-to-adjacent-side ratio
- Geometrical line
- Cosine's reciprocal
- Trigonometric function
- Intersecting line, to a geometer
- Trigonometry ratio
- Trigonometric ratio
- Trig function
- Right triangle ratio
- Trig ratio
- Curve-cutting line
- Cosine reciprocal
- A straight line that intersects a curve at two or more points
- Ratio of the hypotenuse to the adjacent side in a right-angled triangle
- A ratio in geometry
- Geometric chord
- Intersecting line in geometry
- Geometric line
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Secant \Se"cant\ (s[=e]"k[a^]nt), a. [L. secans, -antis, p. pr. of secare to cut. See Section.] Cutting; dividing into two parts; as, a secant line.
Secant \Secant\, n. [Cf. F. s['e]cante. See Secant, a.]
(Geom.) A line that cuts another; especially, a straight line cutting a curve in two or more points.
(Trig.) A right line drawn from the center of a circle through one end of a circular arc, and terminated by a tangent drawn from the other end; the number expressing the ratio of this line to the radius of the circle. See Trigonometrical function, under Function.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1590s, from Latin secantem (nominative secans) "a cutting," present participle of secare "to cut" (see section (n.)). First used by Danish mathematician Thomas Fincke in "Geometria Rotundi" (1583).
Wiktionary
n. 1 (context geometry English) A straight line that intersects a curve at two or more points. 2 (context trigonometry English) In a right triangle, the reciprocal of the cosine of an angle. Symbol: sec
WordNet
n. a straight line that intersects a curve at two or more points
ratio of the hypotenuse to the adjacent side of a right-angled triangle [syn: sec]
Wikipedia
Secant is a term in mathematics derived from the Latin secare ("to cut"). It may refer to:
- a secant line, in geometry
- the secant variety, in algebraic geometry
- secant (trigonometry) (Latin: secans), the multiplicative inverse (or reciprocal) trigonometric function of the cosine
- the secant method, a root-finding algorithm in numerical analysis, based on secant lines to graphs of functions
- a secant ogive in nose cone design
Usage examples of "secant".
Seated at the same table as herself was a skilful sailor, using logarithms, secants and cosecants, polar distances and hour angles, as if he were in some university class-room.
So, even though braking would not be required until the ship reached the balk line ten days hence, Gorgas ordered the Flip when they reached the median of the grand secant and hosted the traditional meal that very evening.
They saw little of Mr Martin for the rest of the day, and sometimes it seemed that he was as eager as his pupils to abandon sines, tangents and secants: he was in fact arranging his very large collection of the Brazilian coleoptera, hastily gathered and only now revealing its full wealth of new species, new genera, and even new families.
Remotely he heard the boy tell the nature of a secant, a cosecant, a tangent and cotangent, a sine and its fellow.
The next morning the blackboard was present, fixed by thumbscrews within easy reach of the Captain's hand, and from it the boys were taught, with words and diagrams, the nature of sine, cosine, tangent, cotangent, secant and cosecant, the relations between them, and their value in helping to find your position in a prodigious ocean, no shore, no landmark for ten thousand miles.
In spite of his dear friend Queenie’s patient explanations of tangents, secants and sines, he had never had a really firm grasp of the principles of spherical trigonometry.
In spite of his dear friend Queenie's patient explanations of tangents, secants and sines, he had never had a really firm grasp of the principles of spherical trigonometry.