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orthogonalmore about orthogonal

orthogonal

 

  4  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Orthogonal  \Or*thog"o*nal\,  a.  [Cf.  F.  orthogonal.] 
  Right-angled;  rectangular;  as  an  orthogonal  intersection  of 
  one  curve  with  another. 
 
  {Orthogonal  projection}.  See  under  {Orthographic}. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  orthogonal 
  adj  :  having  a  set  of  mutually  perpendicular  axes;  meeting  at 
  right  angles;  "wind  and  sea  may  displace  the  ship's 
  center  of  gravity  along  three  orthogonal  axes";  "a 
  rectangular  Cartesian  coordinate  system"  [syn:  {rectangular}] 
 
  From  Jargon  File  (4.2.3,  23  NOV  2000)  [jargon]: 
 
  orthogonal  adj  [from  mathematics]  Mutually  independent;  well 
  separated;  sometimes  irrelevant  to  Used  in  a  generalization  of  its 
  mathematical  meaning  to  describe  sets  of  primitives  or  capabilities  that 
  like  a  vector  basis  in  geometry,  span  the  entire  `capability  space'  of  the 
  system  and  are  in  some  sense  non-overlapping  or  mutually  independent. 
  For  example,  in  architectures  such  as  the  PDP-11  or  VAX  where  all 
  or  nearly  all  registers  can  be  used  interchangeably  in  any  role  with 
  respect  to  any  instruction,  the  register  set  is  said  to  be  orthogonal. 
  Or  in  logic,  the  set  of  operators  `not'  and  `or'  is  orthogonal,  but 
  the  set  `nand',  `or',  and  `not'  is  not  (because  any  one  of  these  can 
  be  expressed  in  terms  of  the  others).  Also  used  in  comments  on  human 
  discourse:  "This  may  be  orthogonal  to  the  discussion,  but...." 
 
 
 
  From  The  Free  On-line  Dictionary  of  Computing  (13  Mar  01)  [foldoc]: 
 
  orthogonal 
 
  Mutually  independent;  well  separated;  sometimes  irrelevant 
  to  Used  in  a  generalisation  of  its  mathematical  meaning  to 
  describe  sets  of  primitives  or  capabilities  that  like  a 
  vector  basis  in  geometry,  span  the  entire  "capability  space" 
  of  the  system  and  are  in  some  sense  non-overlapping  or 
  mutually  independent. 
 
  In  logic,  the  set  of  operators  not"  and  or"  is  orthogonal, 
  but  the  set  "nand",  "or",  and  not"  is  not  (because  any  one  of 
  these  can  be  expressed  in  terms  of  the  others). 
 
  Also  used  in  comments  on  human  discourse:  "This  may  be 
  orthogonal  to  the  discussion,  but  ..." 
 
  See  also  {orthogonal  instruction  set}. 
 
  [{Jargon  File}] 
 
  (1994-12-21)




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