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.

---

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

---

Etymology

Origin of radical axis

First recorded in 1840–50

Example Sentences

The line PBA is sometimes called the radical axis.

From The Teaching of Geometry by Smith, David Eugene

The radical axis becomes the tangent to the circle.

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.

The common chord of two intersecting circles is a special case of their radical axis, and tangents to the circles from any point on the radical axis are equal.

From The Teaching of Geometry by Smith, David Eugene

Sad is it for the State when this force is called into play, and the radical axis is a standing menace to the stability of States and nations.

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.

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