eccentricity
/ˌɛk.sɛnˈtɹɪs.ɪ.ti/ noun
Forms eccentricities
- noun The quality of being eccentric or odd; any eccentric behaviour.
- noun (geometry) The ratio, constant for any particular conic section, of the distance of a point from the focus to its distance from the directrix. “For an ellipse, the eccentricity is the ratio of the distance from the center to a focus divided by the length of the semi-major axis.”
- noun (astronomy) The eccentricity of the conic section (usually an ellipse) defined by the orbit of a given object around a reference object (such as that of a planet around the sun).
- noun (graph theory) The farthest distance from a vertex to any other vertex.
Antonyms
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin eccentricitās. By surface analysis, eccentric + -ity.
Webster’s 1913
- noun The state of being eccentric; deviation from the customary line of conduct; oddity.
- noun The ratio of the distance between the center and the focus of an ellipse or hyperbola to its semi-transverse axis.
Etymology [Cf. F. excentricité.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “eccentricity”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details