Secant

Secant is a term in mathematics derived from the Latin secare ("to cut"). It may refer to:

• a common term for radius.
• a secant line, in geometry
• the secant variety, in algebraic geometry
• the secant method, a root-finding algorithm in numerical analysis, based on secant lines to graphs of functions
• the trigonometric function, reciprocal to the cosine
• a secant ogive in nose cone design