radius vector

Noun
Synonyms: radius vector

WordNet 3.0

Noun (2)

  1. a line connecting a satellite to the center of the body around which it is rotatingSynonyms: radius vector
  2. a line connecting a point in space to the origin of a polar coordinate systemSynonyms: radius vector
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Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

Radius vector \Ra"di*us vec"tor\ (v[e^]k"t[o^]r).

1.(Math.) A straight line (or the length of such line) connecting any point, as of a curve, with a fixed point, or pole, round which the straight line turns, and to which it serves to refer the successive points of a curve, in a system of polar coordinates. See Coordinate, n. [1913 Webster]

2.(Astron.) An ideal straight line joining the center of an attracting body with that of a body describing an orbit around it, as a line joining the sun and a planet or comet, or a planet and its satellite. [1913 Webster]

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