radius-vector

Ra"di*us vec"tor. 1. (Math.) Defn: A straight line (or the length of such line) connecting any point, as of a curve, with a fixed point, or pole, round which the straight line turns, and to which it serves to refer the successive points of a curve, in a system of polar coördinates. See Coördinate, n. 2. (Astron.) Defn: An ideal straight line joining the center of an attracting body with that of a body describing an orbit around it, as a line joining the sun and a planet or comet, or a planet and its satellite.

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