Abscissa
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In mathematics, abscissa (plural abscissae or abscissæ) refers to that element of an ordered pair which is plotted on the horizontal axis of a two-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system, as opposed to the ordinate. It is the first of the two terms (often labelled x and y) which define the location of a point in such a coordinate system.
The usage of the word abscissa is first recorded in 1659 by Stefano degli Angeli, a mathematics professor in Rome, according to Moritz Cantor.[1] Soon thereafter, Leibniz used the term extensively in Latin in his Mathematische Sc
- For the point (-7, 3), -7 is called the abscissa and 3 the ordinate.
[edit] See also
- abscissa on Wiktionary
- Function (mathematics)
- Relation (mathematics)
[edit] References
- ^ Earliest Known Uses of Some of the Words of Mathematics (A). Jeff Miller Web Pages. Updated November 14, 2010. Retrieved on 2011-04-24.
This article was originally based on material from the Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, which is licensed under the GFDL.
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