ABSCISSA • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Abscissa

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noun

Abscissa n. (pl. E. abscissas, L. abscissae) (Geom.) One of the elements of reference by which a point, as of a curve, is referred to a system of fixed rectilineal coördinate axes. Note: When referred to two intersecting axes, one of them called the axis of abscissas, or of X, and the other the axis of ordinates, or of Y, the abscissa of the point is the distance cut off from the axis of X by a line drawn through it and parallel to the axis of Y. When a point in space is referred to three axes having a common intersection, the abscissa may be the distance measured parallel to either of them, from the point to the plane of the other two axes. Abscissas and ordinates taken together are called coördinates. OX or PY is the abscissa of the point P of the curve, OY or PX its ordinate, the intersecting lines OX and OY being the axes of abscissas and ordinates respectively, and the point O their origin.

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Etymology of 'Abscissa'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Abscissa" Quotes from Famous Books

... dealing with the action of travelling loads much assistance may be obtained by using a line termed an influence line. Such a line has for abscissa the distance of a load from one end of a girder, and for ordinate the bending moment or shear at any given section, or on any member, due to that load. Generally the influence line is drawn for unit load. In fig. 52 let A'B' be a girder supported at the ends ...

— Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 3 - "Brescia" to "Bulgaria" • Various

... Method exhibits Concomitant Variations to the eye, and is extensively used in physical and statistical inquiries. Along a horizontal line (the abscissa) is measured one of the conditions (or agents) with which the inquiry is concerned, called the Variable; and along perpendiculars (ordinates) is measured some phenomenon to be compared with it, called ...

— Logic - Deductive and Inductive • Carveth Read

... diminished with the increase of temperature. From the [eta] values obtained the Z values were calculated, using water at 15 deg. C. as a standard. From the Z values thus obtained taken as the ordinate, and the temperature of each experiment as the abscissa, curves were plotted out embodying the results, examples of which are given below. The curves yielded by three gums 2, 7, and 8 changed between 90 deg. C and 100 deg. C., while gum sample 4 has ...

— Scientific American Supplement, No. 821, Sep. 26, 1891 • Various