Octant
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An octant is one of eight divisions.
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[edit] Octant in the plane
An octant is one of 8 parts of the two-dimensional Euclidean coordinate system.
Traditionally wind direction is given as one of the 8 octants (N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, NW) because that is more accurate than merely giving one of the 4 quadrants, and the wind vane typically does not have enough accuracy to bother with more precise indication.
[edit] Octant in three-dimensional space
An octant is one of the eight divisions of a Euclidean three-dimensional coordinate system. It is similar to the two-dimensional quadrant and the one-dimensional ray.
The n-dimensional generalization is the orthant.
[edit] Octant order
Usually, the octant with all three positive coordinates is referred to as the first octant. Nevertheless there is no generally used naming convention for the other seven octants.
