In mathematics, this term generally refers to an orientation on a direction determined by either a line, or a circle, and a point of reference (origin) in relationship to which another point can be positioned in two different ways, either before or after, in order to define two opposite senses, which, depending on the context, are called either the positive sense or the negative sense, or, in the case of a rotation, the clockwise sense or the counterclockwise sense.
Examples
- The positive sense on a number line is represented by an arrow, whereas the negative sense, by convention, is the sense of displacement in the opposite direction on the axis.
- A geometric vector is characterized by a sense indicated by an arrow at one end of the segment that represents it. This sense is one of the two orientations of displacement given to the support line (direction) of the segment.
- A directed line is a line that was given a positive sense.