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Petersen-Morley theorem

Petersen-Morley theorem proper noun: a theorem stating that, if a, b, c are three general skew lines in space, if a′, b′, c′ are the lines of shortest distance respectively for the pairs (b,c), (c,a) and (a,b), and if p, q and r are the lines of shortest distance respectively for the pairs (a,a′), (b,b′) and (c,c′), then there is a single line meeting at right angles all of p, q, and r.

Proper noun

the Petersen-Morley theorem

  1. A theorem stating that, if a, b, c are three general skew lines in space, if a′, b′, c′ are the lines of shortest distance respectively for the pairs (b,c), (c,a) and (a,b), and if p, q and r are the lines of shortest distance respectively for the pairs (a,a′), (b,b′) and (c,c′), then there is a single line meeting at right angles all of p, q, and r.

Origin of Petersen-Morley theorem

Named after Johannes Trolle Petersen (later Johannes Hjelmslev) and Frank Morley.

Questions about Petersen-Morley theorem

What does Petersen-Morley theorem mean?
Petersen-Morley theorem means a theorem stating that, if a, b, c are three general skew lines in space, if a′, b′, c′ are the lines of shortest distance respectively for the pairs (b,c), (c,a) and (a,b), and if p, q and r are the lines of shortest distance respectively for the pairs (a,a′), (b,b′) and (c,c′), then there is a single line meeting at right angles all of p, q, and r.
What part of speech is Petersen-Morley theorem?
Petersen-Morley theorem is a proper noun.

Words near Petersen-Morley theorem in the dictionary

  1. Petersburgians
  2. Petersen
  3. Petersen graph
  4. Petersen graphs
  5. Petersen's theorem
  6. Petersen-Morley theorem
  7. Petersens
  8. Peterses
  9. Petersfield
  10. petersham
  11. petershams

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Petersen-Morley theorem (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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