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Trigonometry is to triangles as ____ is to circles

What is this kind of sentence called? Does it have a name?

Also, what is the blank space in this context called?

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  • Please try to include an example sentence (preferably along with broader context). Let us know where you looked for answers and what you found.
    – Kris
    Commented Feb 23, 2015 at 14:55
  • @Kris the OP had included an example sentence but it was changed by Matt. Please see edit history. It also seems pretty pointless and late in the day to ask the OP to provide proof of research when two users have given the same "correct" answer.
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented Feb 23, 2015 at 21:22
  • To go all meta on you, the general pattern of "sentence fragment with blanks" is called a "snowclone". See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowclone and snowclones.org for examples.
    – Eric Lippert
    Commented Feb 23, 2015 at 21:56
  • 13
    And for those still dying to know what it is that is to circles as trigonometry is to triangles, the answer is cyclometry.
    – Brian Donovan
    Commented Feb 24, 2015 at 13:38
  • 1
    @Brain phew I was starting to get worried, thanks for that.
    – User1000547
    Commented Feb 24, 2015 at 14:41

4 Answers 4

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This is called Analogy where the relationship between two objects in a set are the same as the relationship between the two objects in another set.

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  • 1
    Nice explanation but just a little too late.
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented Feb 23, 2015 at 11:07
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    robusto has enough rep xD
    – Ogen
    Commented Feb 23, 2015 at 11:38
  • 1
    Source? Why not any other term?
    – Kris
    Commented Feb 23, 2015 at 14:52
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    More specifically, since an analogy can be lots of other things as well, this exact kind of analogy is called a proportion, at least in comparative linguistics. (Can’t seem to find anywhere on the Internet that actually describes this usage, though.)
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Commented Feb 23, 2015 at 21:31
  • @JanusBahsJacquet That is the reason I down voted these two answers and that is also the reason I did not offer an answer yet myself.
    – Kris
    Commented Feb 24, 2015 at 6:12
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On standardized tests in the United States (where such questions are most often seen) these are called analogies

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0

You could say this is an act of likening (or that this structure is itself "a likening", though I can't find any official definitions including such a noun), i.e. indicating the relationship between the first pair is like the relationship between the second pair.

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-1

A comparison.

Black is to White as Up is to ____

4 is to 9 as 8 is to 27

The assumption is that the first comparison is also applicable to the second part of the statement.

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  • 2
    This isn't really a comparison, since there is no explicit highlighting of differences or similarities.
    – Dancrumb
    Commented Feb 23, 2015 at 17:29
  • The linked definition indicates no need for detailed analysis. See definition 1a: "the representing of one thing or person as similar to or like another". The asker's structure does just that, clearly making it a comparison.
    – talrnu
    Commented Feb 23, 2015 at 20:59
  • the Q shows no Mathematics what-so-ever.
    – JMP
    Commented Apr 19, 2015 at 13:01

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