Definition:Line/Straight Line
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Definition
In the words of Euclid:
- A straight line is a line which lies evenly with the points on itself.
(The Elements: Book $\text{I}$: Definition $4$)
Also defined as
A definition for straight line which is frequently encountered in the popular literature is:
- A straight line is the shortest distance between two points.
This is all very well but it assumes that the line in question terminates at two particular endpoints.
However, this is a perfectly valid definition of the concept of a straight line segment.
Also see
- Results about straight lines can be found here.
Sources
- 1947: William H. McCrea: Analytical Geometry of Three Dimensions (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Chapter $\text {I}$: Coordinate System: Directions: $\S 1$. Introductory: Nomenclature
- 1965: A.M. Arthurs: Probability Theory ... (previous) ... (next): Chapter $2$: Probability and Discrete Sample Spaces: $2.1$ Introduction
- 1965: J.W. Leech: Classical Mechanics (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Chapter $\text {I}$: Introduction
- 1993: Richard J. Trudeau: Introduction to Graph Theory ... (previous) ... (next): $1$. Pure Mathematics: Games
- 1998: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): line: 2.
- 1998: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): straight line
- 2008: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (4th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): line: 2.
- 2008: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (4th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): straight line
- 2014: Christopher Clapham and James Nicholson: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Mathematics (5th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): line (in two dimensions)
- 2014: Christopher Clapham and James Nicholson: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Mathematics (5th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): straight line (in the plane)