the.com/tangent line
the straight talk that touches a curve, agrees for an instant, then leaves forever
means In geometry, a straight line that touches a curve at a single point, matching its direction there without crossing through it.
from From the Latin 'tangere,' to touch — the same verb that gives us 'tangible,' 'contact,' and 'tact.' The present participle 'tangens' means 'touching,' and a tangent line is exactly that: a line caught in the act of touching. Mathematicians borrowed the word in the 17th century as they worked out how to describe curves at a single fleeting point.
- single touch
- Kisses a smooth curve at exactly one local point
- slope spy
- Its slope equals the derivative right there
- limit child
- Born from secant lines as two points merge
- best lie
- Approximates curves locally better than any other line
- word origin
- From Latin tangere, meaning to touch