radius vector

American  

noun

radii vectores, plural radius vectors plural

1. Mathematics. the length of the line segment joining a fixed point or origin to a given point.

2. Astronomy.

   1. the straight line joining two bodies in relative orbital motion, as the line from the sun to a planet at any point in its orbit.

   2. the distance between two such bodies at any point in the orbit.

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radius vector British  

noun

1. maths a line joining a point in space to the origin of polar or spherical coordinates

2. astronomy an imaginary line joining a satellite to the planet or star around which it is orbiting

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radius vector Scientific  

1. A line segment that joins the origin and a variable point in a system of polar or spherical coordinates.

2. The imaginary straight line that connects the center of the Sun or another body with the center of a planet, comet, or other body that orbits it.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• radii vectores
  plural
• radius vectors
  plural

Etymology

Origin of radius vector

First recorded in 1745–55

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

radius vector

Note that the torque vector is orthogonal to both the force vector and the radius vector.

From Textbooks ● Mar. 30, 2016

One of them says: 'The area swept out in a given time by the radius vector of the path of a planet is proportional to the time taken.'

From The Life of the fly; with which are interspersed some chapters of autobiography by Teixeira de Mattos, Alexander

The area its radius vector sweeps out is therefore SAP, instead of what it would have been, SAB.

From Pioneers of Science by Lodge, Oliver, Sir

Hodograph, hod′o-graf, n. a curve the radius vector of which represents in direction and magnitude the velocity of a moving particle—a term suggested by Sir W. R. Hamilton.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M) by Various

In Kepler's form of stating the law the radius vector is supposed to travel with the planet and in each day to sweep over the same fractional part of the total area of the orbit.

From A Text-Book of Astronomy by Comstock, George C.