subtend
verb/sʌbˈtɛnd/
Etymology From Latin subtendere, from sub (“under”) + tendere (“to stretch, extend”), itself a semantic loan from Ancient Greek ὑποτείνω (hupoteínō, “to subtend”), from which hypotenuse also derives. See tend.
1
Mathematics, Sciences To use an angle to delimit (mark off, enclose) part of a straight or curved line, for example an arc or the opposite side of a triangle.
- A 43° angle subtends an arc of about 0.75 meters on a circle with a radius of 1 meter.
2
Mathematics, Sciences Also To extend or stretch opposite something; to be part of a straight or curved line that is opposite to and delimits an angle.
- A hypotenuse subtends the right angle of a right triangle.
- An arc measuring about 0.75 meters on a circle with a radius of 1 meter subtends an angle of about 43°.
1 more example
- […] trillions of bacteria, each equally an individual, which are found in a person’s gut, his mouth, his scalp, his skin and all of the crevices and orifices that subtend from his body’s surface.2012 August 16, “Me, myself, us”, in The Economist, issue:
3
Mathematics, Sciences To form the central angle of a circle underneath an arc.
- The points A and B on the circumference form the arc AB, which subtends the central angle θ.
- Derived terms
- subtendent