Vector spaceIn mathematics and physics, a vector space (also called a linear space) is a set whose elements, often called vectors, may be added together and multiplied ("scaled") by numbers called scalars. Scalars are often real numbers, but can be complex numbers or, more generally, elements of any field. The operations of vector addition and scalar multiplication must satisfy certain requirements, called vector axioms. The terms real vector space and complex vector space are often used to specify the nature of the scalars: real coordinate space or complex coordinate space.
Topological vector spaceIn mathematics, a topological vector space (also called a linear topological space and commonly abbreviated TVS or t.v.s.) is one of the basic structures investigated in functional analysis. A topological vector space is a vector space that is also a topological space with the property that the vector space operations (vector addition and scalar multiplication) are also continuous functions. Such a topology is called a and every topological vector space has a uniform topological structure, allowing a notion of uniform convergence and completeness.
Basis (linear algebra)In mathematics, a set B of vectors in a vector space V is called a basis (: bases) if every element of V may be written in a unique way as a finite linear combination of elements of B. The coefficients of this linear combination are referred to as components or coordinates of the vector with respect to B. The elements of a basis are called . Equivalently, a set B is a basis if its elements are linearly independent and every element of V is a linear combination of elements of B.
Graded vector spaceIn mathematics, a graded vector space is a vector space that has the extra structure of a grading or gradation, which is a decomposition of the vector space into a direct sum of vector subspaces, generally indexed by the integers. For "pure" vector spaces, the concept has been introduced in homological algebra, and it is widely used for graded algebras, which are graded vector spaces with additional structures. Let be the set of non-negative integers.
Ordered vector spaceIn mathematics, an ordered vector space or partially ordered vector space is a vector space equipped with a partial order that is compatible with the vector space operations. Given a vector space over the real numbers and a preorder on the set the pair is called a preordered vector space and we say that the preorder is compatible with the vector space structure of and call a vector preorder on if for all and with the following two axioms are satisfied implies implies If is a partial order compatible with the vector space structure of then is called an ordered vector space and is called a vector partial order on The two axioms imply that translations and positive homotheties are automorphisms of the order structure and the mapping is an isomorphism to the dual order structure.
Orthonormal basisIn mathematics, particularly linear algebra, an orthonormal basis for an inner product space V with finite dimension is a basis for whose vectors are orthonormal, that is, they are all unit vectors and orthogonal to each other. For example, the standard basis for a Euclidean space is an orthonormal basis, where the relevant inner product is the dot product of vectors. The of the standard basis under a rotation or reflection (or any orthogonal transformation) is also orthonormal, and every orthonormal basis for arises in this fashion.
Dimension (vector space)In mathematics, the dimension of a vector space V is the cardinality (i.e., the number of vectors) of a basis of V over its base field. It is sometimes called Hamel dimension (after Georg Hamel) or algebraic dimension to distinguish it from other types of dimension. For every vector space there exists a basis, and all bases of a vector space have equal cardinality; as a result, the dimension of a vector space is uniquely defined. We say is if the dimension of is finite, and if its dimension is infinite.
Complete topological vector spaceIn functional analysis and related areas of mathematics, a complete topological vector space is a topological vector space (TVS) with the property that whenever points get progressively closer to each other, then there exists some point towards which they all get closer. The notion of "points that get progressively closer" is made rigorous by or , which are generalizations of , while "point towards which they all get closer" means that this Cauchy net or filter converges to The notion of completeness for TVSs uses the theory of uniform spaces as a framework to generalize the notion of completeness for metric spaces.
Normed vector spaceIn mathematics, a normed vector space or normed space is a vector space over the real or complex numbers on which a norm is defined. A norm is a generalization of the intuitive notion of "length" in the physical world. If is a vector space over , where is a field equal to or to , then a norm on is a map , typically denoted by , satisfying the following four axioms: Non-negativity: for every ,. Positive definiteness: for every , if and only if is the zero vector.
Gröbner basisIn mathematics, and more specifically in computer algebra, computational algebraic geometry, and computational commutative algebra, a Gröbner basis is a particular kind of generating set of an ideal in a polynomial ring K[x1, ..., xn] over a field K. A Gröbner basis allows many important properties of the ideal and the associated algebraic variety to be deduced easily, such as the dimension and the number of zeros when it is finite.
Equivalence of categoriesIn , a branch of abstract mathematics, an equivalence of categories is a relation between two that establishes that these categories are "essentially the same". There are numerous examples of categorical equivalences from many areas of mathematics. Establishing an equivalence involves demonstrating strong similarities between the mathematical structures concerned.
Change of basisIn mathematics, an ordered basis of a vector space of finite dimension n allows representing uniquely any element of the vector space by a coordinate vector, which is a sequence of n scalars called coordinates. If two different bases are considered, the coordinate vector that represents a vector v on one basis is, in general, different from the coordinate vector that represents v on the other basis. A change of basis consists of converting every assertion expressed in terms of coordinates relative to one basis into an assertion expressed in terms of coordinates relative to the other basis.
Matrix congruenceIn mathematics, two square matrices A and B over a field are called congruent if there exists an invertible matrix P over the same field such that PTAP = B where "T" denotes the matrix transpose. Matrix congruence is an equivalence relation. Matrix congruence arises when considering the effect of change of basis on the Gram matrix attached to a bilinear form or quadratic form on a finite-dimensional vector space: two matrices are congruent if and only if they represent the same bilinear form with respect to different bases.
Metrizable topological vector spaceIn functional analysis and related areas of mathematics, a metrizable (resp. pseudometrizable) topological vector space (TVS) is a TVS whose topology is induced by a metric (resp. pseudometric). An LM-space is an inductive limit of a sequence of locally convex metrizable TVS.
Equivalence relationIn mathematics, an equivalence relation is a binary relation that is reflexive, symmetric and transitive. The equipollence relation between line segments in geometry is a common example of an equivalence relation. Each equivalence relation provides a partition of the underlying set into disjoint equivalence classes. Two elements of the given set are equivalent to each other if and only if they belong to the same equivalence class.
Matrix similarityIn linear algebra, two n-by-n matrices A and B are called similar if there exists an invertible n-by-n matrix P such that Similar matrices represent the same linear map under two (possibly) different bases, with P being the change of basis matrix. A transformation A ↦ P−1AP is called a similarity transformation or conjugation of the matrix A. In the general linear group, similarity is therefore the same as conjugacy, and similar matrices are also called conjugate; however, in a given subgroup H of the general linear group, the notion of conjugacy may be more restrictive than similarity, since it requires that P be chosen to lie in H.
Pauli matricesIn mathematical physics and mathematics, the Pauli matrices are a set of three 2 × 2 complex matrices which are Hermitian, involutory and unitary. Usually indicated by the Greek letter sigma (σ), they are occasionally denoted by tau (τ) when used in connection with isospin symmetries. These matrices are named after the physicist Wolfgang Pauli. In quantum mechanics, they occur in the Pauli equation which takes into account the interaction of the spin of a particle with an external electromagnetic field.
Gamma matricesIn mathematical physics, the gamma matrices, also called the Dirac matrices, are a set of conventional matrices with specific anticommutation relations that ensure they generate a matrix representation of the Clifford algebra It is also possible to define higher-dimensional gamma matrices. When interpreted as the matrices of the action of a set of orthogonal basis vectors for contravariant vectors in Minkowski space, the column vectors on which the matrices act become a space of spinors, on which the Clifford algebra of spacetime acts.
DimensionIn physics and mathematics, the dimension of a mathematical space (or object) is informally defined as the minimum number of coordinates needed to specify any point within it. Thus, a line has a dimension of one (1D) because only one coordinate is needed to specify a point on it - for example, the point at 5 on a number line. A surface, such as the boundary of a cylinder or sphere, has a dimension of two (2D) because two coordinates are needed to specify a point on it - for example, both a latitude and longitude are required to locate a point on the surface of a sphere.
Standard basisIn mathematics, the standard basis (also called natural basis or canonical basis) of a coordinate vector space (such as or ) is the set of vectors, each of whose components are all zero, except one that equals 1. For example, in the case of the Euclidean plane formed by the pairs (x, y) of real numbers, the standard basis is formed by the vectors Similarly, the standard basis for the three-dimensional space is formed by vectors Here the vector ex points in the x direction, the vector ey points in the y direction, and the vector ez points in the z direction.
