Secant
Encyclopedia
Secant is a term in mathematics. It comes from the Latin secare (to cut). It can refer to:
  • a secant line
    Secant line
    A secant line of a curve is a line that 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...

    , in geometry
  • the secant variety, in algebraic geometry
    Algebraic geometry
    Algebraic geometry is a branch of mathematics which combines techniques of abstract algebra, especially commutative algebra, with the language and the problems of geometry. It occupies a central place in modern mathematics and has multiple conceptual connections with such diverse fields as complex...

  • the secant method
    Secant method
    In numerical analysis, the secant method is a root-finding algorithm that uses a succession of roots of secant lines to better approximate a root of a function f. The secant method can be thought of as a finite difference approximation of Newton's method. However, the method was developed...

    , a root-finding algorithm in numerical analysis, based on secant lines to graphs of functions
  • the trigonometric function, reciprocal to the cosine

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