the.com/secant
the line that refuses to just touch — it crashes through your curve twice
means In geometry, a line that intersects a curve or circle at two points; in trigonometry, the reciprocal of the cosine of an angle.
from From Latin secantem, the present participle of secare, 'to cut' — the same blade-edged root behind 'section,' 'dissect,' and 'sector.' A secant is literally 'the cutting line,' carving through a curve rather than grazing it like its gentler cousin the tangent (from tangere, 'to touch'). The mathematical sense was settled in Latin scientific writing of the 16th century, when geometers needed a word for the line that doesn't just kiss the circle but slices clean through.
- latin root
- From secare, to cut — the same root as scissors
- two points
- A secant crosses a circle at exactly two spots
- trig twin
- Secant equals one over cosine, no exceptions
- calculus seed
- Shrink a secant and it becomes a tangent
- diverges hard
- Its function blasts to infinity at right angles
secant method — newton's numerical root-finding algorithm from the 17th century, requires 2 initial points instead of a derivative
secant pile wall — overlapping reinforced concrete piles used in deep excavation, notably at the channel tunnel project 1987-1994