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One of the elements of reference by which a point, as of a curve, is referred to a system of fixed rectilineal coördinate axes.

See Abscissa.

twisted column drawn spirally in order to trace the circumvolutions without. -- Axis of abscissas and Axis of ordinates. See Abscissa.

pect to certain fixed lines, or planes, called coördinate axes and coördinate planes. See Abscissa.

means of curves or other figures; as the daily changes of weather by means of curves, the abscissas of which represent the hours of the day, and the ordinates the corresponding degrees of temperature. -- Graphical statics (Math.), a branch of statics, in which the magnitude, direction, and position of forces are repre…

ular coördinate axes, is such that the ordinate of any point will be the logarithm of its abscissa. -- Logarithmic spiral, a spiral curve such that radii drawn from its pole or eye at equal angles with each other are in continual proportion. See Spiral.

d the axis of ordinates or on a line parallel to it, from another line called the axis of abscissas, on which the corresponding abscissa of the point is measured.

rbola, a third proportional to any diameter and its conjugate, or in the parabola, to any abscissa and the corresponding ordinate.

bounded wholly or in part by a curved line, as by a curve, two ordinates, and the axis of abscissas.

, a curve in which the ordinates are proportional to the square roots of the cubes of the abscissas.

The curve whose ordinates are proportional to the sines of the abscissas, the equation of the curve being y = a sin x. It is also called the curve of sines.

en the point of tangency and a given line, the given line being, for example, the axis of abscissas, or a radius of a circle produced. See Trigonometrical function, under Function. Artificial, or Logarithmic, tangent, the logarithm of the natural tangent of an arc. -- Natural tangent, a decimal expressing the length o…