bilinear, a.
(baɪˈlɪnɪə(r))
[f. bi- prefix2 6 + linear, L. līnea line.]
1. Of, pertaining to, or contained by, two (straight) lines.
| 1851 H. L. Mansel Proleg. Log. (1860) 24 There is no difficulty in understanding the meaning of the phrase ‘bilinear figure’..though the object is inconceivable. 1851 Phil. Mag. I. 132 There are three points of contact..where the two right lines meet. This, then, is a case of triple contact. I distinguish it by the name of bilinear-contact. 1866 Math. Questions from ‘Educational Times’ V. 76 Any equation expressed in Cartesian language may immediately be transformed into another expressed in bilinear (perpendicular) coordinates. 1885 S. Newcomb Elem. Analytic Geom. ii. 13 (heading) Cartesian or bilinear co-ordinates. |
2. Linear in two ways; chiefly in Math.: linear and homogeneous in each of two sets of independent variables. Also absol., a bilinear form.
| 1886 G. S. Carr Synopsis Pure & Appl. Math. I. ii. 851/1 Bilinear forms. Ibid., Bilinear functions. 1923 T. Muir Theory Determinants IV. xx. 428 The corresponding theorem for the general bilinear is easily anticipated. 1938 A. D. Campbell Adv. Analytic Geom. viii. 121 This choice of new fundamental circles amounts to a so-called bilinear transformation of the parameter. 1967 Gruenberg & Weir Linear Geom. v. 91 A bilinear form is orthosymmetric if, and only if, it is either symmetric or skew-symmetric. |