Pole and Polar

Pole And Polar

In geometry, the terms pole and polar are used to describe a point and a line that have a unique reciprocal relationship with respect to a given conic section. If the point lies on the conic section, its polar is the tangent line to the conic section at that point.

For a given circle, reciprocation in a circle means to transform each point in the plane into its polar line and each line in the plane into its pole.

Read more about Pole And Polar:  Special Case of Circles, Reciprocation and Projective Duality, General Conic Sections, Properties, Applications, See Also, Bibliography

Famous quotes containing the words pole and, pole and/or polar:

    Midwinter spring is its own season
    Sempiternal though sodden towards sundown,
    Suspended in time, between pole and tropic.
    —T.S. (Thomas Stearns)

    I wouldn’t take the Pope too seriously. He’s a Pole first, a pope second, and maybe a Christian third.
    Muriel Spark (b. 1918)

    Professor Fate: My apologies. There’s a polar bear in our car.
    Arthur Ross. Professor Fate (Jack Lemmon)