Cartesian

By Deane Barker

In general, this refers to something that can be linked back to Rene Descartes, the French scientist, famous for uttering the phrase, “I think, therefore I am.”

There are several scientific, mathematical, and philosophical branches that are named for Descartes:

  • Cartesian geometry
  • Cartesian philosophy
  • Cartesian doubt
  • Cartesian dualism
  • Cartesian coordinates
  • Cartesian tree

In fact, there is an entire philosophic and scientific systems called Cartesianism.

Why I Looked It Up

I was reading something that mentioned “Cartesian” and “Descartes” in the same sentence, and I suddenly connected the two. I had mainly known the phrase “Cartesian coordinates.”

Postscript

Added on

From The Deepest Map:

Decartes created the way to change the visual world into a world of numbers, and vice-versa, that is now called Cartesian geometry. Draw two perpendicular axes on a page, and any point placed on the page can be identified by two numbers.

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