-änˈyāzē noun
or witch
Usage: usually capitalized A
Etymology: after Maria Gaetana Agnesi died 1799 Italian mathematician; witch , translation of Italian versiera cubic curve (modification of New Latin versoria versed sine) influenced by versiera female demon (short for avversiera , from avversario Satan, literally, adversary)
: a plane cubic curve that is symmetric about the y-axis and approaches the x-axis as an asymptote, that is constructed by drawing lines from the origin intersecting an upright circle tangent to the x-axis at the origin and taking the locus of points of intersection of pairs of lines parallel to the x-axis and y-axis each pair of which consists of a line parallel to the x-axis through the point where a line through the origin intersects the circle and a line parallel to the y-axis through the point where the same line through the origin intersects the line parallel to the x-axis through the point of intersection of the circle and the y-axis, and that has the equation x 2 y = 4 a 2 (2 a - y )