Point

Pronunciation: /pɔɪnt/ Explain

A point is a location in space that has no width, length or height^[2]. An object that has no width, length or height is called dimensionless. Since it is dimensionless, the only property a point can have is a location.

A fixed point is a point that does not move.

In his book Elements^[2], Euclid gave the definition of a point as "That which has no part", meaning that a point can not be divided into smaller parts. A point is the fundamental element in Euclidean Geometry, and all other objects are made from points. For example, a line consists of an infinite number of points in a row.

References

1. McAdams, David E.. All Math Words Dictionary, point. 2nd Classroom edition 20150108-4799968. pg 140. Life is a Story Problem LLC. January 8, 2015. Buy the book
2. Casey, John, LL.D., F.R.S.. The First Six Books of the Elements of Euclid. pg 4. Translated by Casey, John, LL.D. F.R.S.. www.archive.org. Hodges, Figgis & Co.. 1890. Last Accessed 12/3/2018. http://www.archive.org/stream/firstsixbooksofe00caseuoft#page/4/mode/1up/search/point. Buy the book
3. Euclid. Elements. Book 1, definition 1. Translated by Joyce, D. Clark University. Last Accessed 12/3/2018. https://mathcs.clarku.edu/~djoyce/elements/bookI/defI1.html. Buy the book

More Information

• McAdams, David E.. Dimension. allmathwords.org. All Math Words Encyclopedia. Life is a Story Problem LLC. 3/12/2009. http://www.allmathwords.org/en/d/dimension.html.
• Euclid of Alexandria. Elements. Clark University. 9/6/2018. https://mathcs.clarku.edu/~djoyce/elements/elements.html.

Cite this article as:

McAdams, David E. Point. 12/21/2018. All Math Words Encyclopedia. Life is a Story Problem LLC. http://www.allmathwords.org/en/p/point.html.

Revision History

12/21/2018: Reviewed and corrected IPA pronunication. (McAdams, David E.)
12/1/2018: Removed broken links, updated license, implemented new markup. (McAdams, David E.)
8/7/2018: Changed vocabulary links to WORDLINK format. (McAdams, David E.)
12/21/2009: Added reference to http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/dimension and dimensionless (McAdams, David E.)
8/20/2007: Initial version. (McAdams, David E.)