2014-04-26 10:52:28 -04:00
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orthogonal
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2014-04-26 11:54:15 -04:00
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adj. [from mathematics] Mutually independent; well separated; sometimes,
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irrelevant to. Used in a generalization of its mathematical meaning to
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describe sets of primitives or capabilities that, like a vector basis in
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geometry, span the entire capability space of the system and are in some
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sense non-overlapping or mutually independent. For example, in architectures
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such as the PDP-11 or VAX where all or nearly all registers can be used
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interchangeably in any role with respect to any instruction, the register
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set is said to be orthogonal. Or, in logic, the set of operators not and or
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is orthogonal, but the set nand , or , and not is not (because any one of
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these can be expressed in terms of the others). Also used in comments on
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human discourse: This may be orthogonal to the discussion, but....
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