different between tangential vs orthogonal

English

Etymology

tangent +? -ial.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /tæn?d??n.t??l/
• (US) IPA^(key): /tæn?d??nt.??l/, /tæn?d??n.??l/

Adjective

tangential (comparative more tangential, superlative most tangential)

1. Referring to a tangent, moving at a tangent to something.
2. Merely touching, positioned as a tangent.
   • 1898, Gary Nathan Calkins, Mitosis in Noctiluca miliaris and its bearing on the nuclear relations of the Protozoa and Metazoa, Ph.D. Thesis, page 3

     The archoplasm divides and forms a very large spindle which first lies tangential to the surface of the nucleus.

3. Only indirectly related.

   That subject is tangential to our discussion, and we cannot let it distract us.

Derived terms

• tangentially

Related terms

• tangent

Translations

Anagrams

• antitangle

English

Etymology

From French orthogonal, from Medieval Latin orthogonalis, from Latin orthogonius (“right-angled”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /???????n?l/
• (US) IPA^(key): /???????n?l/

Adjective

orthogonal (not comparable)

1. (geometry) Of two objects, at right angles; perpendicular to each other.

2. (mathematics)
   1. Of a pair of vectors: having a zero inner product; perpendicular.

   2. Of a square matrix: such that its transpose is equal to its inverse.
   3. Of a linear transformation: preserving its angles.
   4. Of grid graphs, board games and polyominoes: vertical or horizontal but not diagonal.
   5. Of a pair of elements in an ortholattice: each less than or equal to the orthocomplement of the other.
3. (statistics) Statistically independent, with reference to variates.
4. (software engineering) Of two or more aspects of a problem, able to be treated separately.

5. Of two or more problems or subjects, independent of or irrelevant to each other.

Derived terms

• orthogonality
• orthogonals

Related terms

Translations

Noun

orthogonal (plural orthogonals)

1. An orthogonal line

See also

• uncorrelated

French

Etymology

From Medieval Latin orthogonalis, from Latin orthogonius (“right-angled”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??.to.?o.nal/

Adjective

orthogonal (feminine singular orthogonale, masculine plural orthogonaux, feminine plural orthogonales)

1. orthogonal

Further reading

• “orthogonal” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

German

Etymology

From Medieval Latin orthogonalis, from Latin orthogonius (“right-angled”).

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -a?l

Adjective

orthogonal (not comparable)

1. orthogonal

Declension

Synonyms

• senkrecht