RADIUS VECTOR Definition & Meaning

radius vector

noun

plural radii vectores radius vectors.

Mathematics. the length of the line segment joining a fixed point or origin to a given point.
Astronomy.
1. the straight line joining two bodies in relative orbital motion, as the line from the sun to a planet at any point in its orbit.
2. the distance between two such bodies at any point in the orbit.

radius vector

noun

maths a line joining a point in space to the origin of polar or spherical coordinates
astronomy an imaginary line joining a satellite to the planet or star around which it is orbiting

radius vector

A line segment that joins the origin and a variable point in a system of polar or spherical coordinates.
The imaginary straight line that connects the center of the Sun or another body with the center of a planet, comet, or other body that orbits it.

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�y��vlog History and Origins

Origin of radius vector¹

First recorded in 1745–55

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

In a curve referred to polar co”rdinates, any point for which the radius vector is a maximum or minimum.

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So Kepler formulated his second great law of planetary motion very simply: the radius vector of any planet describes, or sweeps over, equal areas in equal times.

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Hodograph, hod′o-graf, n. a curve the radius vector of which represents in direction and magnitude the velocity of a moving particle—a term suggested by Sir W. R. Hamilton.

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Since this is so, we may define Spring by the following geometric representation in which the angle ZOP, made by the radius vector with the fundamental plane, shows a springlike tendency.

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This force is in a direction perpendicular to the radius vector and to the plane containing it and the element of current.

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