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Isotropic Line
In the geometry of quadratic forms, an isotropic line or null line is a line for which the quadratic form applied to the displacement vector between any pair of its points is zero. An isotropic line occurs only with an isotropic quadratic form, and never with a definite quadratic form. Using complex geometry, Edmond Laguerre first suggested the existence of two isotropic lines through the point that depend on the imaginary unit : Edmond Laguerre (1870) "Sur l’emploi des imaginaires en la géométrie" Oeuvres de Laguerre2: 89 : First system: (y - \beta) = (x - \alpha) i, : Second system: (y - \beta) = -i (x - \alpha) . Laguerre then interpreted these lines as geodesics: :An essential property of isotropic lines, and which can be used to define them, is the following: the distance between any two points of an isotropic line ''situated at a finite distance in the plane'' is zero. In other terms, these lines satisfy the differential equation . On an arbitrary surface one can study ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quadratic Form
In mathematics, a quadratic form is a polynomial with terms all of degree two ("form" is another name for a homogeneous polynomial). For example, :4x^2 + 2xy - 3y^2 is a quadratic form in the variables and . The coefficients usually belong to a fixed field , such as the real or complex numbers, and one speaks of a quadratic form over . If K=\mathbb R, and the quadratic form takes zero only when all variables are simultaneously zero, then it is a definite quadratic form, otherwise it is an isotropic quadratic form. Quadratic forms occupy a central place in various branches of mathematics, including number theory, linear algebra, group theory (orthogonal group), differential geometry ( Riemannian metric, second fundamental form), differential topology ( intersection forms of four-manifolds), and Lie theory (the Killing form). Quadratic forms are not to be confused with a quadratic equation, which has only one variable and includes terms of degree two or less. A quadrati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |