A clockwise (typically abbreviated as CW) motion is one that proceeds 'like the clock's hands': from the top to the right, then down and then to the left, and back to the top. In a mathematical sense, a circle defined parametrically in a positive Cartesian plane by the equations x = sin t and y = cos t is traced clockwise as t increases in value. Described another way, continually turning right is clockwise motion, as viewed from above. The oppos...
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A clockwise (typically abbreviated as CW) motion is one that proceeds 'like the clock's hands': from the top to the right, then down and then to the left, and back to the top. In a mathematical sense, a circle defined parametrically in a positive Cartesian plane by the equations x = sin t and y = cos t is traced clockwise as t increases in value. Described another way, continually turning right is clockwise motion, as viewed from above. The opposite sense of rotation or revolution is counterclockwise, the North American English term and the one used by the majority of the English-speaking world, and abbreviated CCW. Anticlockwise is the current British English term, and is perhaps used in much of the former British Empire (excluding Canada and the United States).
Before clocks were commonplace, the terms "sunwise" and deiseil (from the Scottish Gaelic language from the same root as the Latin dexter, "right". This word is also used for "ready".) were used for clockwise. (Of course,...
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