asymptote

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asymptote

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circa 1650, from Ancient Greek ἀσύμπτωτη (asúmptōtē), the feminine of Apollonius Pergaeus' (circa 200 BC) Ancient Greek adjective ἀσύμπτωτος (asúmptōtos, “not falling together”), from ἀ- (a-, “not”) +‎ συν- (sun-, “together”) +‎ πτωτός (ptōtós, “fallen”).

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈæsɪmptoʊ̯t/, /ˈæsɪmtoʊ̯t/, /ˈeɪ̯sɪmtoʊ̯t/, /ˈæsɪmtɒt/

• Audio (General American):

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asymptote (plural asymptotes)

1. (mathematical analysis) A straight line which a curve approaches arbitrarily closely as it goes to infinity. The limit of the curve; its tangent "at infinity".
   • 1974, Stanisław Lem, translated by Michael Kandel, The Cyberiad:

     The King rushed forward with all his cruel coordinates and mean values, stumbled into a dark forest of roots and logarithms, had to backtrack, then encountered the beast on a field of irrational numbers (F₁) and smote it so grievously that it fell two decimal places and lost an epsilon, but the beast slid around an asymptote and hid in an n-dimensional orthogonal phase space, underwent expansion and came out, fuming factorially, and fell upon the King and hurt him passing sore.

2. (by extension, figuratively) Anything which comes near to but never meets something else.
   • 1860, Frederic William Farrar, An Essay on the Origin of Language, page 117:

     Language, in relation to thought, must ever be regarded as an asymptote.

asymptote (third-person singular simple present asymptotes, present participle asymptoting, simple past and past participle asymptoted)

1. (mathematical analysis) To approach, but never quite touch, a straight line, as something goes to infinity.
   • 2006: Neil deGrasse Tyson, The Perimeter of Ignorance

     As you become more scientific, yes, the religiosity drops off, but it asymptotes.

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀσύμπτωτος (asúmptōtos).

• IPA^(key): /a.sɛ̃p.tɔt/

• Audio:

  (file)

asymptote f (plural asymptotes)

1. (mathematical analysis) asymptote

• asymptotique

• “asymptote”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.