cartesian

adj

1. (not-comparable)Of, or pertaining to, Descartes, his mathematical methods, or his philosophy, especially with regard to its emphasis on logical analysis and its mechanistic interpretation of physical nature.

   “Others within the Cartesian tradition took the idea of a light-bearing medium in quite different directions. For instance, in 1690 Christiaan Huygens considered light to be a sequence of pulses traveling at a finite velocity within the medium.”

2. (not-comparable)Of, or pertaining to, co-ordinates based on mutually orthogonal axes.
3. (alt-of, not-comparable)Alternative letter-case form of Cartesian.

   “Following the approach adopted in [2, 3], two orthogonal cartesian reference systems are considered: […].”

noun

1. One who follows the philosophy of Cartesianism.
2. (rare)The Chartreux cat.