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Tangent to a curve. The red line is tangential to the curve at the point marked by a red dot. Tangent plane to a sphere. In geometry, the tangent line (or simply tangent) to a plane curve at a given point is, intuitively, the straight line that "just touches" the curve at that point.
In Euclidean plane geometry, a tangent line to a circle is a line that touches the circle at exactly one point, never entering the circle's interior. Tangent lines to circles form the subject of several theorems , and play an important role in many geometrical constructions and proofs .
The tangent plane is an affine concept, because its definition is independent of the choice of a metric. In other words, any affine transformation maps the tangent plane to the surface at a point to the tangent plane to the image of the surface at the image of the point.
In algebraic geometry, in contrast, there is an intrinsic definition of the tangent space at a point of an algebraic variety that gives a vector space with dimension at least that of itself. The points p {\displaystyle p} at which the dimension of the tangent space is exactly that of V {\displaystyle V} are called non-singular points; the ...
In trigonometry, the law of tangents or tangent rule [1] is a statement about the relationship between the tangents of two angles of a triangle and the lengths of the opposing sides. In Figure 1, a , b , and c are the lengths of the three sides of the triangle, and α , β , and γ are the angles opposite those three respective sides.
In mathematics, the term undefined refers to a value, function, or other expression that cannot be assigned a meaning within a specific formal system. [ 1 ] Attempting to assign or use an undefined value within a particular formal system, may produce contradictory or meaningless results within that system.
Illustration of tangential and normal components of a vector to a surface. In mathematics, given a vector at a point on a curve, that vector can be decomposed uniquely as a sum of two vectors, one tangent to the curve, called the tangential component of the vector, and another one perpendicular to the curve, called the normal component of the vector.
In addition, the Euclidean geometry (which has zero curvature everywhere) is not the only geometry that the plane may have. The plane may be given a spherical geometry by using the stereographic projection. This can be thought of as placing a sphere tangent to the plane (just like a ball on the floor), removing the top point, and projecting the ...