tangent

tan·gent (tan′jənt)

adjective

that touches; touching
Geom. touching and not intersecting a curve or curved surface at one and only one point: said of a line or plane

Etymology: L tangens, prp. of tangere, to touch: see tact

noun

Geom.
1. a tangent line, curve, or surface
2. the length of a straight line tangent to a curve, measured from the point of tangency to the intersection of the tangent line with the x-axis
Trigonometry the reciprocal of the cotangent; specif.,
1. the ratio of the opposite side of a given acute angle in a right triangle to the adjacent side
2. an equivalent, positive or negative ratio for certain related angles (Ex.: the tangent of 57° or 237° is 1.5399, of 123° or 303° is -1.5399) or real numbers representing radians (Ex.: the tangent of .9948 radians (57°) is 1.5399)

Etymology: < ModL (linea) tangens, tangent (line)

tan′·gency noun

go off at (or on) a tangent

or fly off at (or on) a tangent

to break off suddenly from a line of action or train of thought and pursue another course

modif.

swerve, get off course, get off the subject, lose track; see deviate. See syn. study at adjacent.

Preposition: of

angle: Divide CD by EF, and the quotient is the tangent of the angle of the sun from the wall.

Converse of object

draw: He also shows how to draw a tangent to three given lines.
return: The leftmost column is column 0. TAN A function returning the tangent of its radian argument.
find: Fortunately J. John's writing style is not as prone to finding tangents as mine is.
have: The external circle of the tower has a perfect tangent in the nave west wall.
use: The following diagram illustrates the calculation using the tangent of the angle.
construct: So, all we need to do is construct the tangent and measure its gradient, Δ y / Δ x.

Adjective modifier

inverse: The inverse tangent is the value whose tangent is ` x ' .
arc: Parameters: a - the value whose arc tangent is to be returned.
slight: OK now let us go off at a slight tangent for a few moments.
common: Note how the common tangents from the free energy curves ( upper graph ) " construct " the phase diagram below it.
different: Corner knots, on the other hand, can have different tangents on either side of them.
own: You can use these pages to follow the day from your machine and go off on your own tangent should you wish.

Modifies a noun

ogive: In addition to covering the cases above it extends the method to bodies with paraboloidal, or blunted tangent ogive or blunted conical forebodies.
modulus: An example of estimating the elasto-plastic buckling stress through use of the material tangent modulus is given.
arc: The tip of the lower tangent arc was the bright area on the horizon directly below the sun.
screw: Fine adjustment of the alignment can be made with the tangent screw.
altitude: Since reported tangent altitudes unchanged this may be as a result of change in ILS?
plane: At the line of symmetry where the two segments meet, the tangent planes make an angle of.

Noun used with modifier

loss: Measurements of permitivity and loss tangent as a function of temperature and bias are obtained in this way.

Browse dictionary entries near tangent