major axis
- noun
- Specialized
:
eje mayor
- Larger semi major axis makes it harder to have a transit.
Examples
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In geometry, the longest axis known as the major axis is crucial for defining an ellipse's shape.
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So that means this is my major axis, right?
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So now we know that my major axis has to be horizontal.
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That will tell you what the major axis of PSI is.
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Now for our axis, we have the major axis which runs along the long side of the ellipse.
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Each whale ellipse was classified with the length of the major axis (in millimeters) relative to the standardized scaled chart.
Academic text (2000) -
The major axis of the ellipse runs through both foci and is the longest diameter.
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To calculate the area of the ellipse, you need to know the lengths of the semi-major axis and the semi-minor axis.
How Long
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'the longest or primary axis' is directly derivable from combining 'major' (larger/primary) with 'axis' (a line), following a normal adjective+noun compositional pattern. Although it is a technical geometric term, the constituent meanings map transparently onto the MWE meaning and many languages use the same logic (e.g. Spanish 'eje mayor'), so a B1 learner knowing the parts can infer it.
Etymology
Major axis comes from the simple picture of an oval or stretched circle: it is the long straight line that goes through the middle and joins the two farthest points. So, the name joins major, meaning 'long', and axis, meaning 'line', and it means 'the longest line' across the oval, which shows how big the shape is.
