Talk:Bisection

Spanish names

In Spanish there are two different words for bisector (angle bisector) and perpendicular bisector, namely, bisectiz and mediatriz. Maybe it would be a good idea to separate these two concepts and link them with their Spanish equivalents. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 148.220.23.14 (talk) 16:46, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

Same in catalan: Bisectriu (angle bisector) and mediatriu (segment bisector). The iw should be double.--83.33.82.168 (talk) 22:14, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

Picture Bisectors.svg is cut in the article, and the E letter is seen as another F — Preceding unsigned comment added by Oabernhardt (talk • contribs) 10:22, 8 December 2011 (UTC)

Bisection construction

The construction of the bisection is technically valid, but is implicitly invoking the Compass equivalence theorem. To construct this with a collapsible compass: the two second circles should be constructed by intersecting them with the intersection of the two 'original' lines. 83.117.16.56 (talk) 21:20, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

Distinguish: dissection

bisect vt : to divide into two usu. equal parts ~ vi : SEPARATE; also : CROSS, INTERSECT

dissect vt 1: to separate into pieces : expose the several parts (as of an animal) for scientific examination 2: to analyze and interpret minutely ~ vi : to make a dissection

(Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary)

These two terms look similar, are pronounced almost identically, and have similar meanings. Per WP:HAT the Distinguish template "can be used when there can be confusion with a similar term." Since this template results in only one line at the beginning of the article and helps readers to distinguish the two terms, I see no good reason to remove it.—Anita5192 (talk) 17:49, 30 November 2016 (UTC)

A week has passed and no one has posted a good reason for the removal of the template, so I have put it back the way it was. Before removing it again, please discuss here first.—Anita5192 (talk) 19:02, 8 December 2016 (UTC)

It seems very unlikely to me that very many will confuse the two. Paul August ☎ 19:58, 8 December 2016 (UTC)

It seems very likely to me.—Anita5192 (talk) 20:04, 8 December 2016 (UTC)

I vote against keeping this template. Few people confuse bisection and dissection, and I see no reason to clutter this article with this unnecessary "Not to be confused" notice. If all potential confusions were similarly indicated on Wikipedia, nobody would read it. J.P. Martin-Flatin (talk) 14:27, 20 December 2016 (UTC)

Perpendicular bisector equation

The following text was recently inserted into the section, Line segment bisector:

Algebraically, the perpendicular bisector of a line segment with endpoints $P_{1}(x_{1},y_{1})$ and $P_{2}(x_{2},y_{2})$ is given by the equation

$(x-x_{1})^{2}+(y-y_{1})^{2}=(x-x_{2})^{2}+(y-y_{2})^{2}.$

The equation is correct, but implicit and hence not very practical. I recommend changing the equation to the following:

$y=m(x-x_{3})+y_{3}$, where $m=-{\frac {x_{2}-x_{1}}{y_{2}-y_{1}}}$, $x_{3}={\tfrac {1}{2}}(x_{1}+x_{2})$, and $y_{3}={\tfrac {1}{2}}(y_{1}+y_{2})$.

— Anita5192 (talk) 00:55, 13 December 2017 (UTC)

Two years have passed and no one has responded, so I made the change.—Anita5192 (talk) 17:23, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

Diagrams

Can the first/top diagram be removed. It does nothing to explain bisection and is confusing trying to incorporate so many "examples" in one diagram. For example, how ED is considered a line segment bisector is unknown. JeffCampsall (talk) 22:32, 23 September 2026 (UTC)

ED is a bisector of the segment because it divides the segment's length into two equal pieces, but it's not a perpendicular bisector; the image doesn't do a great job of depicting this though.

Overall, I agree that the image is confusing, and we could make a better one. –jacobolus (t) 00:36, 24 September 2026 (UTC)

“Something”

In the iOS app, the subtitle for bisection is "Division of something into two equal or congruent parts". And the first sentence is "In geometry, bisection is the division of something into two equal or congruent parts (having the same shape and size)." Something? How about "geometric figure"? And how about "In geometry, bisection is the division of a geometric figure into two congruent parts, each part having the same shape and size as the other."

JeffCampsall (talk) 18:25, 24 September 2026 (UTC)