definition of the word abscissa

Latin, feminine of abscissus, past participle of abscindere (“‘to cut off’”). See abscind.

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abscissa (plural abscissas or abscissae)

1. (geometry) The first of the two terms by which a point is referred to, in a system of fixed rectilinear coordinate axes. The abscissa is also known as the "x" coordinate of a point.

   The point (3,2) has 3 as its abscissa and 2 as its ordinate.

• absciss

• ordinate

Definition from Wiktionary Content avaible with GNU Free Documentation License

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