radius vector
noun
Forms radii vectores radius vectors
- noun (geometry) Of a point, a vector going from the origin to that point; equivalently, the transpose of the point.
- noun (astronomy) An ideal straight line joining the center of an attracting body with that of a body describing an orbit around it, as a line joining the sun and a planet or comet, or a planet and its satellite.
Synonyms
Webster’s 1913
- A straight line (or the length of such line) connecting any point, as of a curve, with a fixed point, or pole, round which the straight line turns, and to which it serves to refer the successive points of a curve, in a system of polar coördinates. See Coördinate, n.
- An ideal straight line joining the center of an attracting body with that of a body describing an orbit around it, as a line joining the sun and a planet or comet, or a planet and its satellite.
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “radius vector”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details