saddle point

noun

Mathematics.

1. a point at which a function of two variables has partial derivatives equal to zero but at which the function has neither a maximum nor a minimum value.

Word History and Origins

Origin of saddle point¹

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

YV: We are sitting on a saddle point, prepared to tip in either direction.

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He and his colleagues have also discussed using the craft’s thrusters to send it to a spot known as a saddle point, where the gravitational pulls of Earth and the Sun cancel each other out.

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Along about midnight we reached Saddle Point, where there was some shelter from the sea which rolled up the wide open strait, and there we anchored.

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We had rounded Saddle Point, a prominent headland, which shut off from us temporarily the violence of the gale.

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