What does this word mean?

Yeah i really should know this, but I'm beside the radiator in my math class and well... anyway...

Here's part of the question:

"In the quadrilateral ABCD, the diagonals AC and BD are orthogonal..."



So what does orthogonal mean? Is it, like, perpendicular or something?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

Here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthogonality
I hope you understand WTH they are talking about...
I looked at the page and felt my eyes glaze over.

Aaaand wolfram is my friend...and should be yours too...
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Orthogonal.html

Hope that works for ya.:shrug:

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

oh it is perpendicular! tyvm

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

The x and y axis of a graph are Orthogonal if they are at right angles (90 degrees) to each other.

 

Indeed, I read how it can mean tangential, too.

 

Orthogonality and perpendicular have two different definitions in math. A case of something being orthogonal is when you consider the south pole and the north pole, both poles are orthogonal to each other. A case of something being perpendicular is when you take a 30 degree turn from a vertical line. The vertical line and the angle line are perpendicular to each other.

 

Yes, in spatial geometry, "orthogonal" and "perpendicular" amount to the same thing. Just throwing my two cents in because of the confusing and selfish attempt at misrepresentation contained in the post quoted below.

This is such awful nonsense, it's not even worth calling "wrong". There are lots of people here who don't necessarily have enough math background to see through your BS, and it's incredibly selfish for you to be answering their questions with irrelevant gobbledygook in an attempt to appear knowledgeable about the topic. As I said to you in private, I don't know what audience you're trying to fool or why, but it's a petty, twisted game you've been playing here, and you really need to stop. Shame on you.

 

Question answered. Thread closed.