minor axis

American

noun

Mathematics.

the axis of an ellipse that is perpendicular to the major axis at a point equidistant from the foci.

minor axis British

noun

the shorter or shortest axis of an ellipse or ellipsoid

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of minor axis

First recorded in 1860–65

Example Sentences

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See Examples For:

minor axis

The distance from the center to the endpoints of the minor axis is 2.

From Textbooks ● May 6, 2020

A segment perpendicular to the major axis that passes through the center and intersects the ellipse in two points is called the minor axis.

From Textbooks ● May 6, 2020

Find the endpoints of the minor axis Step 5.

From Textbooks ● May 6, 2020

What special case of the ellipse do we have when the major and minor axis are of the same length?

From Textbooks ● Feb. 13, 2015

The major axis of the lower surface averages half an inch in length and the minor axis a quarter of an inch.

From The Glow-Worm and Other Beetles by Teixeira de Mattos, Alexander

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023