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quadrant, in analytic geometry

(Encyclopedia)quadrant. 1 In analytic geometry, one of the four regions of the plane determined by two lines, the x-axis and the y-axis. Commonly these lines are drawn perpendicular to each other, and the quadrants...

nimbus, in art

(Encyclopedia)nimbus nĭmˈbəs [key], in art, the luminous disk or circle or other indication of light around the head of a sacred personage. It was used in Buddhist and other Asian art and by the early Greeks and...

chord, in geometry

(Encyclopedia)chord kôrd [key], in geometry, straight line segment both end points of which lie on the circumference of a circle or other curve; it is a segment of a secant. A chord passing through the center of a...

MacMillan, Donald Baxter

(Encyclopedia)MacMillan, Donald Baxter, 1874–1970, American arctic explorer, b. Provincetown, Mass., grad. Bowdoin College, 1898, and studied at Harvard. After a decade of teaching, he went on the expedition (190...

Alaska North Slope

(Encyclopedia)Alaska North Slope or Arctic North Slope, region, N Alaska, sloping from the Brooks Range N to the Arctic Ocean. In 1968 large petroleum reserves were found in the Prudhoe Bay area. In 1977 the 800-mi...

Wrangel, Baron Ferdinand Petrovich von

(Encyclopedia)Wrangel, Wrangell, or Vrangel, Baron Ferdinand Petrovich von all: răngˈgəl, Rus. fyĕrdyēnäntˈ pētrôˈvĭch vôn vränˈgĭl [key], 1796–1870, Russian naval officer, arctic explorer, and gov...

Barrow, Sir John

(Encyclopedia)Barrow, Sir John, 1764–1848, British geographer, promoter of arctic exploration. His early travels as secretary to Earl Macartney (who was ambassador to China and governor of the Cape of Good Hope c...

Hall, Charles Francis

(Encyclopedia)Hall, Charles Francis, 1821–71, American arctic explorer, b. Rochester, N.H. He became interested in the many search expeditions for Sir John Franklin's party, and with Eskimo companions he explored...

Rae, John

(Encyclopedia)Rae, John, 1813–93, Scottish arctic explorer, b. Orkney Islands. A physician in the employ of the Hudson's Bay Company in N Canada, Rae made (1846–47) a journey of exploration from Fort Churchill ...

frigid zone

(Encyclopedia)frigid zone: see Arctic, the; Antarctica; zone. ...