Conservative vector fieldIn vector calculus, a conservative vector field is a vector field that is the gradient of some function. A conservative vector field has the property that its line integral is path independent; the choice of any path between two points does not change the value of the line integral. Path independence of the line integral is equivalent to the vector field under the line integral being conservative. A conservative vector field is also irrotational; in three dimensions, this means that it has vanishing curl.
Complex lamellar vector fieldIn vector calculus, a complex lamellar vector field is a vector field which is orthogonal to a family of surfaces. In the broader context of differential geometry, complex lamellar vector fields are more often called hypersurface-orthogonal vector fields. They can be characterized in a number of different ways, many of which involve the curl. A lamellar vector field is a special case given by vector fields with zero curl. The adjective "lamellar" derives from the noun "lamella", which means a thin layer.
Continuous functionIn mathematics, a continuous function is a function such that a continuous variation (that is a change without jump) of the argument induces a continuous variation of the value of the function. This means that there are no abrupt changes in value, known as discontinuities. More precisely, a function is continuous if arbitrarily small changes in its value can be assured by restricting to sufficiently small changes of its argument. A discontinuous function is a function that is .
Interval (mathematics)In mathematics, a (real) interval is a set of real numbers that contains all real numbers lying between any two numbers of the set. For example, the set of numbers x satisfying 0 ≤ x ≤ 1 is an interval which contains 0, 1, and all numbers in between. Other examples of intervals are the set of numbers such that 0 < x < 1, the set of all real numbers , the set of nonnegative real numbers, the set of positive real numbers, the empty set, and any singleton (set of one element).
DivergenceIn vector calculus, divergence is a vector operator that operates on a vector field, producing a scalar field giving the quantity of the vector field's source at each point. More technically, the divergence represents the volume density of the outward flux of a vector field from an infinitesimal volume around a given point. As an example, consider air as it is heated or cooled. The velocity of the air at each point defines a vector field. While air is heated in a region, it expands in all directions, and thus the velocity field points outward from that region.
RotationRotation or rotational motion is the circular movement of an object around a central line, known as axis of rotation. A plane figure can rotate in either a clockwise or counterclockwise sense around a perpendicular axis intersecting anywhere inside or outside the figure at a center of rotation. A solid figure has an infinite number of possible axes and angles of rotation, including chaotic rotation (between arbitrary orientations), in contrast to rotation around a axis.
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.
Open and closed mapsIn mathematics, more specifically in topology, an open map is a function between two topological spaces that maps open sets to open sets. That is, a function is open if for any open set in the is open in Likewise, a closed map is a function that maps closed sets to closed sets. A map may be open, closed, both, or neither; in particular, an open map need not be closed and vice versa. Open and closed maps are not necessarily continuous.
Open setIn mathematics, an open set is a generalization of an open interval in the real line. In a metric space (a set along with a distance defined between any two points), an open set is a set that, along with every point P, contains all points that are sufficiently near to P (that is, all points whose distance to P is less than some value depending on P). More generally, an open set is a member of a given collection of subsets of a given set, a collection that has the property of containing every union of its members, every finite intersection of its members, the empty set, and the whole set itself.
Vector fieldIn vector calculus and physics, a vector field is an assignment of a vector to each point in a space, most commonly Euclidean space . A vector field on a plane can be visualized as a collection of arrows with given magnitudes and directions, each attached to a point on the plane. Vector fields are often used to model, for example, the speed and direction of a moving fluid throughout three dimensional space, such as the wind, or the strength and direction of some force, such as the magnetic or gravitational force, as it changes from one point to another point.
Continuous linear operatorIn functional analysis and related areas of mathematics, a continuous linear operator or continuous linear mapping is a continuous linear transformation between topological vector spaces. An operator between two normed spaces is a bounded linear operator if and only if it is a continuous linear operator. Continuous function (topology) and Discontinuous linear map Bounded operator Suppose that is a linear operator between two topological vector spaces (TVSs). The following are equivalent: is continuous.
Divergence (statistics)In information geometry, a divergence is a kind of statistical distance: a binary function which establishes the separation from one probability distribution to another on a statistical manifold. The simplest divergence is squared Euclidean distance (SED), and divergences can be viewed as generalizations of SED. The other most important divergence is relative entropy (also called Kullback–Leibler divergence), which is central to information theory.
Vector calculusVector calculus, or vector analysis, is concerned with differentiation and integration of vector fields, primarily in 3-dimensional Euclidean space The term "vector calculus" is sometimes used as a synonym for the broader subject of multivariable calculus, which spans vector calculus as well as partial differentiation and multiple integration. Vector calculus plays an important role in differential geometry and in the study of partial differential equations.
F-divergenceIn probability theory, an -divergence is a function that measures the difference between two probability distributions and . Many common divergences, such as KL-divergence, Hellinger distance, and total variation distance, are special cases of -divergence. These divergences were introduced by Alfréd Rényi in the same paper where he introduced the well-known Rényi entropy. He proved that these divergences decrease in Markov processes.
Rotation formalisms in three dimensionsIn geometry, various formalisms exist to express a rotation in three dimensions as a mathematical transformation. In physics, this concept is applied to classical mechanics where rotational (or angular) kinematics is the science of quantitative description of a purely rotational motion. The orientation of an object at a given instant is described with the same tools, as it is defined as an imaginary rotation from a reference placement in space, rather than an actually observed rotation from a previous placement in space.
Scalar potentialIn mathematical physics, scalar potential, simply stated, describes the situation where the difference in the potential energies of an object in two different positions depends only on the positions, not upon the path taken by the object in traveling from one position to the other. It is a scalar field in three-space: a directionless value (scalar) that depends only on its location. A familiar example is potential energy due to gravity.
Leibniz integral ruleIn calculus, the Leibniz integral rule for differentiation under the integral sign states that for an integral of the form where and the integrands are functions dependent on the derivative of this integral is expressible as where the partial derivative indicates that inside the integral, only the variation of with is considered in taking the derivative. It is named after Gottfried Leibniz.
Nowhere continuous functionIn mathematics, a nowhere continuous function, also called an everywhere discontinuous function, is a function that is not continuous at any point of its domain. If is a function from real numbers to real numbers, then is nowhere continuous if for each point there is some such that for every we can find a point such that and . Therefore, no matter how close we get to any fixed point, there are even closer points at which the function takes not-nearby values.
Line integralIn mathematics, a line integral is an integral where the function to be integrated is evaluated along a curve. The terms path integral, curve integral, and curvilinear integral are also used; contour integral is used as well, although that is typically reserved for line integrals in the complex plane. The function to be integrated may be a scalar field or a vector field. The value of the line integral is the sum of values of the field at all points on the curve, weighted by some scalar function on the curve (commonly arc length or, for a vector field, the scalar product of the vector field with a differential vector in the curve).
Social classA social class or social stratum is a grouping of people into a set of hierarchical social categories, the most common being the upper, middle and lower classes. Membership in a social class can for example be dependent on education, wealth, occupation, income, and belonging to a particular subculture or social network. "Class" is a subject of analysis for sociologists, political scientists, anthropologists and social historians. The term has a wide range of sometimes conflicting meanings, and there is no broad consensus on a definition of "class".
