tangent Hear it!

tangent Definition

tan·gent (tanjənt)

adjective

  1. that touches; touching
  2. 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

  1. 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
  2. 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)

tangent Related Forms

tan·gency noun

tangent Idioms

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

tangent Synonyms

tangent

modif.

touching, tangential, in contact; see contiguous.

go off on a tangent

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

tangent Usage Examples

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, &Delta; y / &Delta; 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

  1. tangelo
  2. Tanganyika
  3. tang
  4. Taney
  5. tandoori
  6. tandoor
  7. tandem switch
  8. tandem
  9. Tancred
  10. tanbark
  1. tangential
  2. tangerine
  3. tangible
  4. tangible asset
  5. tangible property
  6. Tangier
  7. tangle
  8. tangled
  9. tanglefoot
  10. tangly