§ 8. Any two points A and B in space determine on the line through them a finite part, which may be considered as being described by a point moving from A to B. This we shall denote by AB, and distinguish it from BA, which is supposed as being described by a point moving from B to A, and hence in a direction or in a “sense” opposite to AB. Such a finite line, which has a definite sense, we shall call a “segment,” so that AB and BA denote different segments, which are said to be equal in length but of opposite sense. The one sense is often called positive and the other negative.
In introducing the word “sense” for direction in a line, we have the word direction reserved for direction of the line itself, so that different lines have different directions, unless they be parallel, whilst in each line we have a positive and negative sense.
We may also say, with Clifford, that AB denotes the “step” of going from A to B.
| Fig. 2. |
§ 9. If we have three points A, B, C in a line (fig. 2), the step AB will bring us from A to B, and the step BC from B to C. Hence both steps are equivalent to the one step AC. This is expressed by saying that AC is the “sum” of AB and BC; in symbols—
AB + BC = AC,
where account is to be taken of the sense.
This equation is true whatever be the position of the three points on the line. As a special case we have
AB + BA = 0,