What's the difference between secant and tangent?

Secant


Definition:

  • (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.

Tangent


Definition:

  • (v. t.) A tangent line curve, or surface; specifically, that portion of the straight line tangent to a curve that is between the point of tangency and a given line, the given line being, for example, the axis of abscissas, or a radius of a circle produced. See Trigonometrical function, under Function.
  • (a.) Touching; touching at a single point
  • (a.) meeting a curve or surface at a point and having at that point the same direction as the curve or surface; -- said of a straight line, curve, or surface; as, a line tangent to a curve; a curve tangent to a surface; tangent surfaces.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The association constants and the binding capacities of association of small molecules with macromolecules have been determined by the tangent analysis, the graphical analysis, and the computer data analysis, by trial and convergence of the Scatchard plot.
  • (2) Tangent-screen studies uncovered neurasthenic spiral fields superimposed on hysterical tubular contractions of both eyes.
  • (3) Two principles have to be considered: 1. the image of a curved surface will only show the surface area where the rays form a tangent to the surface; 2. in tomography the blurring of the image increases with an increase of the tomographic angle and the distance of the object to the plane in focus.
  • (4) Tangent-screen visual fields were compared with the fields determined by a newly acquired automated perimeter in 100 eyes of consecutive patients with glaucoma or suspected glaucoma.
  • (5) The mathematical method was more practical and overcame the variability of the tangent method.
  • (6) First the angle between the line drawn along the right upper lobe artery and the tangent drawn along the point of junction of superior and lateral borders of the right pulmonary artery was determined.
  • (7) Extracellular recordings were made from afferents to the Purkinje cells of the flocculus of monkeys either spontaneously making saccadic eye movements (saccades) or trained to fixate a small visual target projected on a tangent screen.
  • (8) Twelve of 16 dissatisified bifocal contact lens wearers (75%) were successfully fit with the Tangent Streak trifocal.
  • (9) In his four-star review for the Guardian, Michael Billington described the production as "an exuberantly inventive evening, one existing in its own right at a tangent to the original".
  • (10) The tangent values were calculated from the curves that correlate well with the degrees of nuclear cataract.
  • (11) We propose a correction, the hyperbolic tangent, to linearize the data over all sizes, and we discuss evolutionary reasons for the relatively small brain size of the largest vertebrates.
  • (12) With the manual (Goldmann) perimeter and the tangent screen, special statokinetic techniques help in both assessment and enhancement of patient reliability.
  • (13) The approximated curve of the corneal posterior curvature and the line tangent to the anterior surface of the iris were calculated as the anterior chamber angle.
  • (14) This algorithm, named 'tangent exponential' was demonstrated to converge for all initial conditions when the initial substrate concentration is positive.
  • (15) (4) The angle of the tangent to any segment of the curve of Spee to the plane of motion determines the optimal height and angulation of the cusps of the segment.
  • (16) The morphology of the facial surface can be described by an angle formed between the tangent at the point of bracket placement and the long axis of the crown.
  • (17) Enamel had a modulus which was approximately three to five times higher, and a lower loss tangent than those of dentin.
  • (18) Presently, by applying the considerations of Maxwell-Boltzmann statistics, the Langevin function is shown as the appropriate and justifiable sigmoid (instead of the conventional hyperbolic tangent function) to depict the bipolar nonlinear logic-operation enunciated by the collective stochastical response of artificial neurons under activation.
  • (19) Patients were treated with either tangential fields alone (n = 508) or tangents with a third field to the supraclavicular (SC) or SC-axillary (AX) region (n = 1116).
  • (20) 4.32pm: "I love Portuguese sardines," announces Kanjorski, going off at a slightly eccentric tangent.