Cartesian

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Of or pertaining to the French philosopher René Descartes, orhis philosophy.The Cartesion argument for reality of matter. Sir W. Hamilton.Cartesian coördinates (Geom), distance of a point from lines orplanes; -- used in a system of representing geometric quantities,invented by Descartes.-- Cartesian devil, a small hollow glass figure, used in connectionwith a jar of water having an elastic top, to illustrate the effectof the compression or expansion of air in changing the specificgravity of bodies.-- Cartesion oval (Geom.), a curve such that, for any point of thecurve mr m'r' = c, where r and r' are the distances of the pointfrom the two foci and m, m' and c are constant; -- used by Descartes.