Lexic.us

Definition of Asymptote

1. Noun. A straight line that is the limiting value of a curve; can be considered as tangent at infinity. "The asymptote of the curve"

Definition of Asymptote

1. n. A line which approaches nearer to some curve than assignable distance, but, though infinitely extended, would never meet it. Asymptotes may be straight lines or curves. A rectilinear asymptote may be conceived as a tangent to the curve at an infinite distance.

Definition of Asymptote

1. Noun. (analysis) A straight line which a curve approaches arbitrarily closely, as they go to infinity. The limit of the curve, its tangent "at infinity". ¹

2. Noun. (context: by extension figuratively) Anything which comes near to but never meets something else. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Asymptote

1. [n -S]

Medical Definition of Asymptote

1. A line which approaches nearer to some curve than assignable distance, but, though infinitely extended, would never meet it. Asymptotes may be straight lines or curves. A rectilinear asymptote may be conceived as a tangent to the curve at an infinite distance. Origin: Gr. Not falling together; priv. + to fall together; with + to fall. Cf. Symptom. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Asymptote Pictures

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Lexicographical Neighbors of Asymptote

Literary usage of Asymptote

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. A Treatise on Conic Sections: Containing an Account of Some of the Most by George Salmon (1879)
"Or, if any parallel to an asymptote of a hyperbola, or a diameter of a parabola, cut two tangents and their chord of contact, the intercept from the curve ..."

2. An Elementary Treatise on the Differential Calculus Founded on the Method of by William Woolsey Johnson (1904)
"The infinite branch of the curve will have an asymptote, if the perpendicular upon the tangent has a finite limit when the point of tangency recedes to ..."

3. Transactions of the Cambridge Philosophical Society by Cambridge Philosophical Society (1871)
"Excluding these, and using the term asymptote to denote a non-singular asymptote, an asymptote is in general an ordinary tangent or asymptote of ..."

4. The Collected Mathematical Papers of Arthur Cayley by Arthur Cayley (1892)
"And, conversely, when the satellite line is parallel to an asymptote such asymptote is an osculating one, and when the satellite line is at infinity the ..."

5. Elements of the Integral Calculus: With a Key to the Solution of by William Elwood Byerly (1892)
"In the last section we found the area between a curve and its asymptote, ... Let us find the area between an hyperbola and its asymptote. ..."

6. Elements of Analytic Geometry by Joseph Johnston Hardy (1897)
"Therefore, as the asymptote extends outward from the center the distance PS between ... Hence we may define the asymptote as follows : 270. The asymptote. ..."

7. An Elementary Treatise on the Differential Calculus: Containing the Theory by Benjamin Williamson (1899)
"If the sign of a be negative, the curve has but one real asymptote. 261. asymptotes.—In the preceding figure the student will observe that to each asymptote ..."

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