ALL meanings of orthogonal
or·thog·o·nal
O o - noun orthogonal Of or involving right angles; at right angles. 1
- noun Definition of orthogonal in Technology (mathematics, jargon) At 90 degrees (right angles). N mutually orthogonal vectors span an N-dimensional vector space, meaning that, any vector in the space can be expressed as a linear combination of the vectors. This is true of any set of N linearly independent vectors. The term is used loosely to mean mutually independent or well separated. It is used to describe sets of primitives or capabilities that, like linearly independent vectors in geometry, span the entire "capability space" and are in some sense non-overlapping or mutually independent. For example, in logic, the set of operators "not" and "or" is described as orthogonal, but the set "nand", "or", and "not" is not (because any one of these can be expressed in terms of the others). Also used loosely to mean "irrelevant to", e.g. "This may be orthogonal to the discussion, but ...", similar to "going off at a tangent". See also orthogonal instruction set. 1
- adjective orthogonal Mathematics. Also, orthographic. pertaining to or involving right angles or perpendiculars: an orthogonal projection. (of a system of real functions) defined so that the integral of the product of any two different functions is zero. (of a system of complex functions) defined so that the integral of the product of a function times the complex conjugate of any other function equals zero. (of two vectors) having an inner product equal to zero. (of a linear transformation) defined so that the length of a vector under the transformation equals the length of the original vector. (of a square matrix) defined so that its product with its transpose results in the identity matrix. 1
- adjective orthogonal Crystallography. referable to a rectangular set of axes. 1
- adjective orthogonal relating to, consisting of, or involving right angles; perpendicular 0
- adjective orthogonal (of a pair of vectors) having a defined scalar product equal to zero 0
- adjective orthogonal (of a pair of functions) having a defined product equal to zero 0
- adjective orthogonal having to do with right angles; perpendicular; rectangular 0