Or*thog"o*nal (?), a. [Cf. F. orthogonal.] Right-angled; rectangular; as, an orthogonal intersection of one curve with another.

• (geometry) Of, or relating to right angles
  
• (geometry) Perpendicular to.
        A chord and the radius that bisects it are orthogonal.'
  
• (mathematics) Of two functions, linearly independent; having a zero inner product.
        The normal vector and tangent vector at a given point are orthogonal.
  
• (mathematics) Of a square matrix that is the inverse of its transpose
  
• (mathematics) Of a linear transformation that preserves length and angles
  
• (statistics) Of a set of variables, independent of each other
  
• (software engineering) Able to be treated separately.
        The content of the message and the means of its delivery should be orthogonal.