quadrant

n. one of the four parts that an area is divided into by two lines that cross.

n. one of the four sections into which a plane or area is divided by two perpendicular lines.

“The city is divided into four quadrants, and we live in the northwest one.”

“The search party focused their efforts on the southern quadrant of the forest where the signal was last detected.”

n. one of the four regions on a graph divided by the x and y lines.

n. one of the four regions of the Cartesian plane bounded by the x-axis and y-axis.

“In this math problem, the point lies in the upper-right quadrant of the graph.”

“Students must identify whether the coordinates result in a point located in the first or third quadrant.”

Technical

n. a quarter of a circle, or a shape that looks like a slice of pie with a 90-degree angle.

n. a sector of a circle representing one fourth of the total area, with a central angle of 90 degrees.

“The architect designed a window in the shape of a quadrant.”

“The area of the quadrant can be calculated by dividing the total area of the circle by four.”

Technical

n. an old tool used by sailors to measure the height of stars to find their position.

n. a historical navigational instrument with a graduated arc of 90 degrees, used for measuring the altitude of celestial bodies.

“The museum has an old brass quadrant used by explorers in the 1700s.”

“Before the invention of the sextant, mariners relied on the quadrant to determine their latitude by observing the North Star.”

Archaic · Technical