Passers-by
The term passante (from the French passer = to pass ) is used in planar geometry for a straight line that does not intersect or touch a given circle at any point . A straight line is a passer-by of a circle if the distance between the center of the circle and the straight line is greater than the radius of the circle.
Straight and conic section
More generally one speaks of the passer-by of a conic section ( ellipse , parabola , hyperbola ).
A passerby of the conic section is a straight line that neither touches nor intersects it.
See also
Web links
Wiktionary: Passante - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
