3 entries under this word
a. [From Lat. co, for con, and ordinatus, p. p. of ordinare, to regulate; It. coordinato. See ORDINATE.] Equal in rank or order; not subordinate.
Whether there was one Supreme Governor of the world, or many co-ordinate powers presiding over each country. Law.
To give a common order, action, movement, or condition to; to make co-ordinate or equal; to harmonize.
n. 1. A thing of the same rank with another thing; one of two or more persons or things of equal rank or authority.
Sense 2. (pl.) (Math.) Lines, or other elements of reference, by means of which the position of any point, as of a curve, is defined with respect to certain fixed lines, or planes, called co-ordinate axes and co-ordinate planes.
Co-ordinates are of several kinds, consisting, in the different cases, of the following elements,—namely: (a.) (Geom. of Two Dimensions.) The abscissa and ordinate of any point, taken together; as the abscissa P Y and ordinate P X of the point P (fig. 2), referred to the co-ordinate axis A Y and A X. (b.) Any radius vector P A (fig. 1), together with its angle of inclination to a fixed line, A P X, by which any point A in the same plane is referred to that fixed line, and a fixed point in it, called the pole, P. (c.) (Geom. of Three Dimensions.) Any three lines, or distances, P B, P C, P D (fig. 3), taken parallel to three co-ordinate axes, A X, A Y, A Z, and measured from the corresponding co-ordinate fixed planes, Y A Z, X A Z, X A Y, to any point in space, P, whose position is thereby determined with respect to these planes and axes. (d.) A radius vector, the angle which it makes with a fixed plane, and the angle which its projection on the plane makes with a fixed line in the plane, by which means any point in space at the free extremity of the radius vector is referred to that fixed plane and fixed line, and a fixed point in that line, the pole of the radius vector.
Co-ordinates.
Geographical co-ordinates, the latitude and longitude of a place, by which its relative situation on the globe is known.—Polar co-ordinates, co-ordinates made up of a radius vector and its angle of inclination to another line, or a line and plane; as those defined in (b.) and (d.) above.—Rectangular co-ordinates, co-ordinates the axes of which intersect at right angles.—Rectilinear co-ordinates, co-ordinates made up of right lines, as those defined in (a.) and (c.) above.—Trigonometrical or spherical co-ordinates, elements of reference, by means of which the position of a point on the surface of a sphere may be determined with respect to two great circles of the sphere.
