abscissa
1
9.9
- noun
- /æbˈsɪsə/
- Specialized
- In the Cartesian plane, the abscissa represents the horizontal distance of a point from the origin.
- abscissas and ordinates
Examples
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The abscissa shows wavelength in nanometers; the ordinate shows transmittance, where 1.0 represents 100% transmitted light and 0 represents no transmitted light.
Academic text (1992) -
The abscissa shows duration in ms, and the ordinate shows movement distance.
Academic text (2011) -
The abscissa gives the trial number; the ordinate gives the auditory distance (in terms of numbers of stimuli along the continuum).
Academic text (2011) -
Total revenues and total costs are represented on the y-axis (the ordinate) and the number of units sold is represented on the x-axis (the abscissa).
Academic text (2005) -
For any coordinate point, the abscissa is the value you find on the x-axis.
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When plotting the graph, the abscissa is labeled to indicate its value along the x-axis.
Surface Forms
Etymology
Abscissa comes from the Latin word abscissus, which means 'cut off' and is like the idea of cutting, as in scissors. In math it was used for a length 'cut off' on a line, so the abscissa is the horizontal distance, the x-value measured from the origin.