Lexic.us

Definition of Abscissa

1. Noun. The value of a coordinate on the horizontal axis.

Definition of Abscissa

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

Definition of Abscissa

1. Noun. (context: geometry) The first of the two terms by which a point is referred to, in a system of fixed rectilinear coordinate (Cartesian coordinate) axes. The abscissa is also known as the "x" coordinate of a point, shown on the horizontal line, with the ordinate, also known as the "y" coordinate, shown on the vertical line. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Abscissa

1. a particular geometric coordinate [n -SAS or -SAE]

Medical Definition of Abscissa

1. One of the elements of reference by which a point, as of a curve, is referred to a system of fixed rectilineal coordinate axes. 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 coordinates. 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. Origin: L, fem. Of abscissus, p. P. Of absindere to cut of. See Abscind. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Abscissa

Literary usage of Abscissa

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

1. An Elementary Treatise on the Calculus: With Illustrations from Geometry by George Alexander Gibson (1901)
"abscissa of a Point. Let 0 be a fixed point on a line X'OX and P, ... The positive number x is called the abscissa of P with respect to the origin 0; ..."

2. New School Algebra by George Albert Wentworth (1898)
"Thus, the abscissa of Pj is OB¡, the ordinate of Pt is OA\ ... The abscissa and the ordinate of a point are called the coordinates of the point. ..."

3. Plane and Spherical Trigonometry by Leonard Magruder Passano (1918)
"The lines of the figure are named as follows : OM is called the abscissa of ... The abscissa OM and the ordinate MP are together called the coordinates of ..."

4. Mechanics' and Engineers' Pocket-book of Tables, Rules, and Formulas by Charles Haynes Haswell (1920)
"When the other Ordinate and abscissae, or other abscissa and Ordinales are given. Rn.E.— As either abscissa is lo square of its ordinal*;, ..."

5. Trigonometry and Double Algebra by Augustus De Morgan (1849)
"The projections of OP are also called coordinates of the point P : and the coordinates are distinguished by the names abscissa and ordinate. ..."

6. Engineers' and Mechanics' Pocket-book by Charles Haynes Haswell (1844)
"To or from the semi-conjugate, according as the greater or less abscissa is ... Then, as this sum or difference is to the abscissa, so is the conjugate to ..."

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