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Webster 1913 Edition


Cartesian

Car-te′sian

,
Adj.
[From Renatus
Cartesius
, Latinized from of René
Descartes
: cf. F.
cartésien
.]
Of or pertaining to the French philosopher René Descartes, or his philosophy.
The
Cartesion
argument for reality of matter.
Sir W. Hamilton.
Cartesian coordinates
(Geom)
,
distance of a point from lines or planes; – used in a system of representing geometric quantities, invented by Descartes.
Cartesian devil
,
a small hollow glass figure, used in connection with a jar of water having an elastic top, to illustrate the effect of the compression or expansion of air in changing the specific gravity of bodies.
Cartesion oval
(Geom.)
,
a curve such that, for any point of the curve
mr + m´r´ = c
, where r and are the distances of the point from the two foci and m, and c are constant; – used by Descartes.

Car-te′sian

,
Noun.
An adherent of Descartes.

Webster 1828 Edition


Cartesian

CARTESIAN

,
Adj.
Pertaining to the philosopher Des Cartes, or to his philosophy, which taught the doctrine of vortexes round the sun and planets.

CARTESIAN

,
Noun.
One who adopts the philosophy of Des Cartes.

Definition 2024


Cartesian

Cartesian

See also: cartesian

English

Adjective

Cartesian (not comparable)

  1. Of, or pertaining to, Descartes, his mathematical methods, or his philosophy, especially with regard to its emphasis on logical analysis and its mechanistic interpretation of physical nature.
  2. (mathematics, cartography) Of, or pertaining to, co-ordinates based on mutually orthogonal axes.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

Cartesian (plural Cartesians)

  1. One who follows the philosophy of Cartesianism.

Translations

Anagrams

cartesian

cartesian

See also: Cartesian

English

Adjective

cartesian (not comparable)

  1. Alternative spelling of Cartesian
    • 2009 January, Alfio Quarteroni, “Mathematical Models in Science and Engineering”, in Notices of the American Mathematical Society, volume 56, number 1, page 18:
      Following the approach adopted in [2, 3], two orthogonal cartesian reference systems are considered: [] .

Anagrams