4 ms·

Agreed. Can we just be clear? "Orthogonal" means "perpendicular."

• AndyKelley 16y ago
  Seems clear to me. Parallel == same direction. Perpendicular == different directions.
  • A1kmm 16y ago
    Parallel can mean in the same direction, or it can mean in exactly opposite directions. North and south train lines might run parallel to each other, for example. In plain English, two things are orthogonal if they are unrelated or independent of each other. In linear algebra, this meaning is given a more specific technical meaning of perpendicular; transforming a point p by a vector u that is orthogonal to a basis vector v to get p' means that p and p' have the same multiplier on v (i.e. the contribution of v is independent of transformations orthogonal to v)
    • Luyt 16y ago
      I associate 'orthogonal' with CPU instruction sets: the ability to combine any instruction with any register (and adressing mode).
      • jrockway 16y ago
        Well, it's a vector math term.
      • sp332 16y ago
        Sure, in that case the vectors are instructions and registers. So if you change from using instruction p to instruction p' it doesn't change the register you're using.