radical axis

American  

noun

Geometry.

1. the line such that tangents drawn from any point of the line to two given circles are equal in length.

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radical axis British  

noun

1. a line from any point of which tangents to two given circles are of equal length. It is the line joining the points of intersection of two circles

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Etymology

Origin of radical axis

First recorded in 1840–50

Example Sentences

The intersections which lie on the radical axis are two out of the four intersections of the two circles.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 8 "Cube" to "Daguerre, Louis" by Various

The radical axis of two circles is the line perpendicular to the line joining the centres, from any point of which the tangents to the circles are equal.

From The Romance of Mathematics Being the Original Researches of a Lady Professor of Girtham College in Polemical Science, with some Account of the Social Properties of a Conic; Equations to Brain Waves; Social Forces; and the Laws of Political Motion. by Hampson, P.

And by this very theorem, given two circles with imaginary intersections, we can, by drawing circles which meet each of them in real points, construct the radical axis of the first-mentioned two circles.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 6 "Geodesy" to "Geometry" by Various

In the case of two non-intersecting circles it may be shown that the radical axis has the same metrical relations to the line of centres.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 4 "Cincinnatus" to "Cleruchy" by Various

Hence we may conclude that in a social system of monarchical government the radical axis is perpendicular to the line attaching the individual with the monarch.

From The Romance of Mathematics Being the Original Researches of a Lady Professor of Girtham College in Polemical Science, with some Account of the Social Properties of a Conic; Equations to Brain Waves; Social Forces; and the Laws of Political Motion. by Hampson, P.