Secant line Secant line In geometry, a secant of a curve is a line that intersects the curve in at least two (distinct) points. The word "secant" comes from the Latin word "secare", meaning "to cut". In the case of a circle, a secant will intersect the circle in exactly two points and a chord is the line segment determined by these two points, that is the interval on a secant whose endpoints are these points. A straight line can intersect a circle in two, one or zero points. A line intersecting in two points is called a "secant line", in one
Dividing a circle into areas of points on the "right" of the line. Since all existing points already have lines between them, the number of points on the left multiplied by the number of points on the right is the number of lines that will be crossing the new line. For the line to point "i", there are points on the left and on the right, so a total of lines must be crossed. In this example, the lines to "i" = 1 and "i" = 4 each cross zero lines, while the lines to "i" = 2 and "i" = 3 each cross two