(a.) Cutting; divivding into two parts; as, a secant line.
(a.) A line that cuts another; especially, a straight line cutting a curve in two or more points.
(a.) A right line drawn from the center of a circle through one end of a circular arc, and terminated by a tangent drawn from the other end; the number expressing the ratio line of this line to the radius of the circle. See Trigonometrical function, under Function.
Example Sentences:
(1) The absorbed light per unit area illuminated decreases with increasing angle, because the area illuminated by the laser beam is proportional to the secant of the incident angle.
(2) In the course of history of anatomy the prosector (dissector, incisor, secant, sculptor, procurator) held total different positions: at first he acted as a manual craftsman (barber surgeon) and as teacher's assistant lacking any academic education (organized in fraternities or guilds).
(3) Newton's method appears to have better convergence properties than the secant method in the likelihood ratio test case.
(4) Results indicate that a secant modulus could be determined by measuring indenter force and contact area.
(5) The basis of several solution methods is described; the PROSYN program is capable of using either of two (bracketting and the secant method) of these procedures.
(6) The conjugate gradient method is used to optimize the inversion slice profile produced by complex hyperbolic secant selective pulses.
(7) It is found that multifrequency selective excitation with sinc pulses--up to eight slices are investigated--and two-frequency inversion with hyperbolic secant pulses lead to profiles comparable in quality and selectivity to those of conventional single-frequency pulses.
(8) Similarly, the secant method is easier to implement for the computation of score test based intervals.
(9) An automated imaging technique, based upon the method of directed secants, was used to quantify variations in bone porosity and trabecular size, distribution, and orientation within serial transverse histological sections of the L1 and L2 vertebral centrum.
(10) The Secant formula and Euler's formula were proved to be specific cases in this general solution.
(11) However, the secant method may be easier to program for models with link functions that are not natural.
Sectant
Definition:
(n.) One of the portions of space bounded by the three coordinate planes. Specif. (Crystallog.), one of the parts of a crystal into which it is divided by the axial planes.