Secant line

Secant line
A secant line of a curve is a line that (locally)
intersects two points on the curve. The word secant
comes from the Latin secare, to cut.
It can be used to approximate the tangent to a curve, at
some point P. If the secant to a curve is defined by two
points, P and Q, with P fixed and Q variable, as Q
approaches P along the curve, the direction of the
secant approaches that of the tangent at P, (assuming
that the first-derivative of the curve is continuous at
point P so that there is only one tangent). As a
consequence, one could say that the limit as Q
approaches P of the secant's slope, or direction, is that
of the tangent. In calculus, this idea is the basis of the
geometric definition of the derivative. A chord is the
portion of a secant that lies within the curve.
A secant line on a map is a line where the projection is
without distortion.

External links
Weisstein, Eric W., "Secant line [1]" from MathWorld.

References
[1] http:/ / mathworld. wolfram. com/ SecantLine. html

Common lines and line segments on a circle, including the secant

line

Article Sources and Contributors

Article Sources and Contributors

Secant line Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=477938594 Contributors: A. Parrot, Abdullah795, Almit39, Angus Lepper, Anonymous Dissident, Atomicthumbs, Candleknight,
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Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors

Image:CIRCLE LINES.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:CIRCLE_LINES.svg License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: User:Jleedev

License
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