orthogonal

adjective

perpendicular
independent

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ɔːˈθɒɡ.ə.nəl/ / /ɔɹˈθɑ.ɡə.nəl/ / /ɔɹˈθɒɡ.ə.nəl/

adj

Etymology: From Middle French orthogonal, in turn from Medieval Latin orthogōnālis and Latin orthogōnius (“right-angled”), ultimately from Ancient Greek ὀρθογώνιος (orthogṓnios, “rectangular”). By surface analysis, ortho- + -gon + -al.

Of two objects, at right angles; perpendicular to each other.
“A chord and the radius that bisects it are orthogonal.”
Of a pair of vectors: having a zero inner product; perpendicular.
“The normal vector and tangent vector at a given point are orthogonal.”
Of a square matrix: such that its transpose is equal to its inverse.
Of a linear transformation: preserving its angles.
Of grid graphs, board games and polyominoes: vertical or horizontal but not diagonal.
Of a pair of elements in an ortholattice: each less than or equal to the orthocomplement of the other.
Statistically independent, with reference to variates.
Of two or more aspects of a problem, able to be treated separately; of a design, exhibiting consistency and composability.
“The content of the message should be orthogonal to the means of its delivery.”
“An orthogonal approach also promotes reuse. If components have specific, well-defined responsibilities, they can be combined with new components in ways that were not envisioned by their original implementors.”
Of two or more problems or subjects, independent of or irrelevant to each other.
“Even in a geostate, some people are willing to fight and die for their views, but the institutional change to a polystate seems somewhat orthogonal to such issues.”

noun

An orthogonal line.
“All of the orthogonals in this painting display an understanding of linear perspective.”