cross vs. intersect

English translation: See explanation

13:03 Apr 23, 2015
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Mathematics & Statistics / geometry
English term or phrase: cross vs. intersect
Dear colleagues, we have a sentence "The lines never cross or intersect.". What is the difference between "cross" and "intersect", as all Lithuanian dictionaries provide same equivalents for both, while they obviously refer to different phenomena in this particular sentence. Any ideas would be appreciated!
Ana Novikaite
Local time: 17:36
Selected answer:See explanation
Explanation:
It is a concept of analytic geometry.
Lines that are not parallel but lie in the same plane intersect; when they are not parallel and do not lie in the same plane, they cross
Selected response from:

Henk Sanderson
Netherlands
Local time: 16:36
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +4See explanation
Henk Sanderson
4 +3see answer below.
DLyons
4 +1'intersect' is a special case of 'cross'
Jennifer Levey
4X and Y
Tony M


  

Answers


7 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +4
See explanation


Explanation:
It is a concept of analytic geometry.
Lines that are not parallel but lie in the same plane intersect; when they are not parallel and do not lie in the same plane, they cross

Henk Sanderson
Netherlands
Local time: 16:36
Works in field
Native speaker of: Dutch
PRO pts in category: 8
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Anton Konashenok
1 hr
  -> Thanks, Anton

agree  B D Finch: That's how two planes can cross each other's path without a catastrophe, so long as they are at different altitudes.
1 hr
  -> Thanks, B D

neutral  Jennifer Levey: Your reference to lines being 'not parallel' is something of a red herring here.
1 hr
  -> This is not a mathematics course...

disagree  DLyons: Somewhere, they have a minimum distance between them, but that isn't called a "crossing". Source for this requested, none provided.
4 hrs
  -> Outside the mathematics realm, you can call it what you want. Inside that realm, there is only one term, and that is cross(ing)

agree  Tushar Deep
19 hrs
  -> Thanks, Tushar

agree  jccantrell: yep, the crux is to think in three dimensions.
1 day 1 hr
  -> Thanks, jc

agree  Phong Le
5 days
  -> Thanks, Phong Le
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
'intersect' is a special case of 'cross'


Explanation:
If two lines 'cross', there is a point where their X and Y coordinates are equal.

Intersection occurs in the special case where the Z coordinates of the lines are also equal, at point X,Y.

Note that this is true of any two lines, regardless of their form (straight, curved, irregular, ...).

Jennifer Levey
Chile
Local time: 12:36
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Henk Sanderson: More generally: if two lines are not parallel and their minimum distance is zero, the lines intersect; otherwise they cross//as I said before, this is not a mathematics course...
14 mins
  -> Tks - but again, 'parallelism' is irrelevant here.
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22 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
X and Y


Explanation:
In a letter X, the lines intersect, but they also cross
In a letter Y, the lines intersect in the middle, but do not cross (i.e. 'carry on out the other side'!)

This is a more everyday explanation which might help in some contexts.

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Note added at 2 heures (2015-04-23 15:10:10 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Intersection - math word definition - Math Open Reference

www.mathopenref.com/intersection.html

Definition of the intersection of two lines. ... two lines meet or cross. Try this Drag any orange dot at the points A,B,P or Q. The line segments intersect at point K.

Tony M
France
Local time: 16:36
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 16

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  B D Finch: I think that your Y lines meet, rather than intersect.
1 hr
  -> Thanks, B! Intersect means just that: meet OR cross; in the US, an intersection doesn't only mean a crossroads!

neutral  Jennifer Levey: If we stick to Asker's context - which is not US highway jargon - I think you're confusing 'intersect' with 'intercept'.// At the top of the question it says: 'Mathematics & Statistics / geometry'.
1 hr
  -> We do not know for sure that Asker's context has anything to do with mathematics or geometry; I am not confusing anything this is a perfectly everyday meaning of the word.

neutral  Henk Sanderson: In the context of mathematics, the answer is nonsense//Just look in the header of the question for the context...
1 hr
  -> Maybe — but then, you're over-interpreting by assuming this might be a mathematical context in the first place!
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4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
see answer below.


Explanation:
The English was written either by someone without any real understanding of Mathematics or, more likely, to give a more "layman's" term to help explain the more technical term "intersect".

"cross" is just a redundant synonym for the mathematical term "intersect" - there's no difference between the two terms (except they have slightly different domains of usage).

DLyons
Ireland
Local time: 15:36
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 24

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Tony M: Yes, that seems a more plausible explanation in fact — with the sense of 'or in other words' etc.
23 mins
  -> Thanks Tony. I suspect it comes from somewhere like e.g. http://www.platinumgmat.com/gmat_study_guide/lines

agree  claude-andrew
14 hrs
  -> Thanks Claude-andrew.

agree  Piyush Ojha
3 days 56 mins
  -> Thanks Piyush.
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