ARGUMENT

, in Astronomy, is an arch given, by which another arch is found in some proportion to it. Hence,

Argument of Inclination, or Argument of Latitude, of any planet, is an arch of a planet's orbit, intercepted between the ascending node, and the place of the planet from the sun, numbered according to the succession of the signs.

Menstrual Argument of Latitude, is the distance of the moon's true place from the sun's true place.— By this is found the quantity of the real obscuration in eclipses, or how many digits are darkened in any place.

Anuual Argument of the moon's apogee, or simply, Annual Argument, is the distance of the sun's place from the place of the moon's apogee; that is, the arc of the ecliptic comprised between those two places.