The Collaborative International Dictionary
Plane \Plane\, a. [L. planus: cf. F. plan. See Plan, a.] Without elevations or depressions; even; level; flat; lying in, or constituting, a plane; as, a plane surface.
Note: In science, this word (instead of plain) is almost exclusively used to designate a flat or level surface.
Plane angle, the angle included between two straight lines in a plane.
Plane chart, Plane curve. See under Chart and Curve.
Plane figure, a figure all points of which lie in the same plane. If bounded by straight lines it is a rectilinear plane figure, if by curved lines it is a curvilinear plane figure.
Plane geometry, that part of geometry which treats of the relations and properties of plane figures.
Plane problem, a problem which can be solved geometrically by the aid of the right line and circle only.
Plane sailing (Naut.), the method of computing a ship's place and course on the supposition that the earth's surface is a plane.
Plane scale (Naut.), a scale for the use of navigators, on which are graduated chords, sines, tangents, secants, rhumbs, geographical miles, etc.
Plane surveying, surveying in which the curvature of the earth is disregarded; ordinary field and topographical surveying of tracts of moderate extent.
Plane table, an instrument used for plotting the lines of a survey on paper in the field.
Plane trigonometry, the branch of trigonometry in which its principles are applied to plane triangles.
Surveying \Sur*vey"ing\, n. That branch of applied mathematics which teaches the art of determining the area of any portion of the earth's surface, the length and directions of the bounding lines, the contour of the surface, etc., with an accurate delineation of the whole on paper; the act or occupation of making surveys.
Geodetic surveying, geodesy.
Maritime surveying, or Nautical surveying, that branch of surveying which determines the forms of coasts and harbors, the entrances of rivers, with the position of islands, rocks, and shoals, the depth of water, etc.
Plane surveying. See under Plane, a.
Topographical surveying, that branch of surveying which involves the process of ascertaining and representing upon a plane surface the contour, physical features, etc., of any portion of the surface of the earth.