The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
cotangent — [kō tan′jənt, kō′tan΄jənt] n. [ModL cotangens < co. tangens, short for complementi tangens, lit., tangent of the complement] Trigonometry the reciprocal of the tangent; specif. a) the ratio of the adjacent side of a given acute angle in a… … English World dictionary
cotangent — from co. tangent, abbreviation of COMPLEMENT (Cf. complement) + TANGENT (Cf. tangent) … Etymology dictionary
cotangent — ► NOUN Mathematics ▪ (in a right angled triangle) the ratio of the side (other than the hypotenuse) adjacent to a particular acute angle to the side opposite the angle (the reciprocal of tangent) … English terms dictionary
cotangent — noun Etymology: New Latin cotangent , cotangens, from co + tangent , tangens tangent Date: 1635 1. a trigonometric function that for an acute angle is the ratio between the leg adjacent to the angle when it is considered part of a right triangle… … New Collegiate Dictionary
cotangent — UK [ˌkəʊˈtændʒənt] / US [ˌkoʊˈtændʒənt] noun [countable] Word forms cotangent : singular cotangent plural cotangents maths in a right angled triangle, the measurement of an acute angle that is equal to the length of the side between the angle and … English dictionary
cotangent — cotangential /koh tan jen sheuhl/, adj. /koh tan jeuhnt, koh tan /, n. Trig. 1. (in a right triangle) the ratio of the side adjacent to a given angle to the side opposite. 2. the tangent of the complement, or the reciprocal of the tangent, of a… … Universalium
cotangent — co•tan•gent [[t]koʊˈtæn dʒənt, ˈkoʊˌtæn [/t]] n. 1) math. (in a right triangle) the ratio of the side adjacent to a given angle to the side opposite 2) math. the tangent of the complement, or the reciprocal of the tangent, of a given angle or arc … From formal English to slang
Cotangent complex — In mathematics the cotangent complex is a roughly a universal linearization of a morphism of geometric or algebraic objects. Cotangent complexes were originally defined in special cases by a number of authors. Luc Illusie, Daniel Quillen, and M.… … Wikipedia
Cotangent bundle — In mathematics, especially differential geometry, the cotangent bundle of a smooth manifold is the vector bundle of all the cotangent spaces at every point in the manifold. It may be described also as the dual bundle to the tangent bundle.… … Wikipedia
Cotangent space — In differential geometry, one can attach to every point x of a smooth (or differentiable) manifold a vector space called the cotangent space at x. Typically, the cotangent space is defined as the dual space of the tangent space at x, although… … Wikipedia
