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Current (mathematics)
In mathematics, more particularly in functional analysis, differential topology, and geometric measure theory, a ''k''-current in the sense of Georges de Rham is a functional on the space of compactly supported differential ''k''-forms, on a smooth manifold ''M''. Currents formally behave like Schwartz distributions on a space of differential forms, but in a geometric setting, they can represent integration over a submanifold, generalizing the Dirac delta function, or more generally even directional derivatives of delta functions ( multipoles) spread out along subsets of ''M''. Definition Let \Omega_c^m(M) denote the space of smooth ''m''- forms with compact support on a smooth manifold M. A current is a linear functional on \Omega_c^m(M) which is continuous in the sense of distributions. Thus a linear functional T : \Omega_c^m(M)\to \R is an ''m''-dimensional current if it is continuous in the following sense: If a sequence \omega_k of smooth forms, all supported in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mathematics
Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many areas of mathematics, which include number theory (the study of numbers), algebra (the study of formulas and related structures), geometry (the study of shapes and spaces that contain them), Mathematical analysis, analysis (the study of continuous changes), and set theory (presently used as a foundation for all mathematics). Mathematics involves the description and manipulation of mathematical object, abstract objects that consist of either abstraction (mathematics), abstractions from nature orin modern mathematicspurely abstract entities that are stipulated to have certain properties, called axioms. Mathematics uses pure reason to proof (mathematics), prove properties of objects, a ''proof'' consisting of a succession of applications of in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Continuous Function
In mathematics, a continuous function is a function such that a small variation of the argument induces a small variation of the value of the function. This implies 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 . Until the 19th century, mathematicians largely relied on intuitive notions of continuity and considered only continuous functions. The epsilon–delta definition of a limit was introduced to formalize the definition of continuity. Continuity is one of the core concepts of calculus and mathematical analysis, where arguments and values of functions are real and complex numbers. The concept has been generalized to functions between metric spaces and between topological spaces. The latter are the most general continuous functions, and their d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Exterior Derivative
On a differentiable manifold, the exterior derivative extends the concept of the differential of a function to differential forms of higher degree. The exterior derivative was first described in its current form by Élie Cartan in 1899. The resulting calculus, known as exterior calculus, allows for a natural, metric-independent generalization of Stokes' theorem, Gauss's theorem, and Green's theorem from vector calculus. If a differential -form is thought of as measuring the flux through an infinitesimal - parallelotope at each point of the manifold, then its exterior derivative can be thought of as measuring the net flux through the boundary of a -parallelotope at each point. Definition The exterior derivative of a differential form of degree (also differential -form, or just -form for brevity here) is a differential form of degree . If is a smooth function (a -form), then the exterior derivative of is the differential of . That is, is the unique -form such that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stokes' Theorem
Stokes' theorem, also known as the Kelvin–Stokes theorem after Lord Kelvin and George Stokes, the fundamental theorem for curls, or simply the curl theorem, is a theorem in vector calculus on \R^3. Given a vector field, the theorem relates the integral of the curl of the vector field over some surface, to the line integral of the vector field around the boundary of the surface. The classical theorem of Stokes can be stated in one sentence: : The line integral of a vector field over a loop is equal to the surface integral of its '' curl'' over the enclosed surface. Stokes' theorem is a special case of the generalized Stokes theorem. In particular, a vector field on \R^3 can be considered as a 1-form in which case its curl is its exterior derivative, a 2-form. Theorem Let \Sigma be a smooth oriented surface in \R^3 with boundary \partial \Sigma \equiv \Gamma . If a vector field \mathbf(x,y,z) = (F_x(x, y, z), F_y(x, y, z), F_z(x, y, z)) is defined and has continuous first ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boundary (topology)
In topology and mathematics in general, the boundary of a subset of a topological space is the set of points in the Closure (topology), closure of not belonging to the Interior (topology), interior of . An element of the boundary of is called a boundary point of . The term boundary operation refers to finding or taking the boundary of a set. Notations used for boundary of a set include \operatorname(S), \operatorname(S), and \partial S. Some authors (for example Willard, in ''General Topology'') use the term frontier instead of boundary in an attempt to avoid confusion with a Manifold#Manifold with boundary, different definition used in algebraic topology and the theory of manifolds. Despite widespread acceptance of the meaning of the terms boundary and frontier, they have sometimes been used to refer to other sets. For example, ''Metric Spaces'' by E. T. Copson uses the term boundary to refer to Felix Hausdorff, Hausdorff's border, which is defined as the intersection ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manifold With Boundary
In mathematics, a manifold is a topological space that locally resembles Euclidean space near each point. More precisely, an n-dimensional manifold, or ''n-manifold'' for short, is a topological space with the property that each point has a neighborhood that is homeomorphic to an open subset of n-dimensional Euclidean space. One-dimensional manifolds include lines and circles, but not self-crossing curves such as a figure 8. Two-dimensional manifolds are also called surfaces. Examples include the plane, the sphere, and the torus, and also the Klein bottle and real projective plane. The concept of a manifold is central to many parts of geometry and modern mathematical physics because it allows complicated structures to be described in terms of well-understood topological properties of simpler spaces. Manifolds naturally arise as solution sets of systems of equations and as graphs of functions. The concept has applications in computer-graphics given the need to associate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orientation (mathematics)
In mathematics, orientability is a property of some topological spaces such as real vector spaces, Euclidean spaces, surfaces, and more generally manifolds that allows a consistent definition of "clockwise" and "anticlockwise". A space is orientable if such a consistent definition exists. In this case, there are two possible definitions, and a choice between them is an orientation of the space. Real vector spaces, Euclidean spaces, and spheres are orientable. A space is non-orientable if "clockwise" is changed into "counterclockwise" after running through some loops in it, and coming back to the starting point. This means that a geometric shape, such as , that moves continuously along such a loop is changed into its own mirror image . A Möbius strip is an example of a non-orientable space. Various equivalent formulations of orientability can be given, depending on the desired application and level of generality. Formulations applicable to general topological manifolds oft ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rectifiable Set
In mathematics, a rectifiable set is a set that is smooth in a certain measure-theoretic sense. It is an extension of the idea of a rectifiable curve to higher dimensions; loosely speaking, a rectifiable set is a rigorous formulation of a piece-wise smooth set. As such, it has many of the desirable properties of smooth manifolds, including tangent spaces that are defined almost everywhere. Rectifiable sets are the underlying object of study in geometric measure theory. Definition A Borel subset E of Euclidean space \mathbb^n is said to be m-rectifiable set if E is of Hausdorff dimension m, and there exist a countable collection \ of continuously differentiable maps :f_i:\mathbb^m \to \mathbb^n such that the m-Hausdorff measure \mathcal^m of :E\setminus \bigcup_^\infty f_i\left(\mathbb^m\right) is zero. The backslash here denotes the set difference. Equivalently, the f_i may be taken to be Lipschitz continuous without altering the definition. Other authors have different defin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Integral
In mathematics, an integral is the continuous analog of a Summation, sum, which is used to calculate area, areas, volume, volumes, and their generalizations. Integration, the process of computing an integral, is one of the two fundamental operations of calculus,Integral calculus is a very well established mathematical discipline for which there are many sources. See and , for example. the other being Derivative, differentiation. Integration was initially used to solve problems in mathematics and physics, such as finding the area under a curve, or determining displacement from velocity. Usage of integration expanded to a wide variety of scientific fields thereafter. A definite integral computes the signed area of the region in the plane that is bounded by the Graph of a function, graph of a given Function (mathematics), function between two points in the real line. Conventionally, areas above the horizontal Coordinate axis, axis of the plane are positive while areas below are n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Linear Subspace
In mathematics, the term ''linear'' is used in two distinct senses for two different properties: * linearity of a ''function (mathematics), function'' (or ''mapping (mathematics), mapping''); * linearity of a ''polynomial''. An example of a linear function is the function defined by f(x)=(ax,bx) that maps the real line to a line in the Euclidean plane R2 that passes through the origin. An example of a linear polynomial in the variables X, Y and Z is aX+bY+cZ+d. Linearity of a mapping is closely related to ''Proportionality (mathematics), proportionality''. Examples in physics include the linear relationship of voltage and Electric current, current in an electrical conductor (Ohm's law), and the relationship of mass and weight. By contrast, more complicated relationships, such as between velocity and kinetic energy, are ''Nonlinear system, nonlinear''. Generalized for functions in more than one dimension (mathematics), dimension, linearity means the property of a function of b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Open Set
In mathematics, an open set is a generalization of an Interval (mathematics)#Definitions_and_terminology, open interval in the real line. In a metric space (a Set (mathematics), set with a metric (mathematics), distance defined between every two points), an open set is a set that, with every point in it, contains all points of the metric space that are sufficiently near to (that is, all points whose distance to is less than some value depending on ). More generally, an open set is a member of a given Set (mathematics), collection of Subset, subsets of a given set, a collection that has the property of containing every union (set theory), union of its members, every finite intersection (set theory), intersection of its members, the empty set, and the whole set itself. A set in which such a collection is given is called a topological space, and the collection is called a topology (structure), topology. These conditions are very loose, and allow enormous flexibility in the choice ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
