Isotropic Quadratic Form
In mathematics, a quadratic form over a field ''F'' is said to be isotropic if there is a non-zero vector on which the form evaluates to zero. Otherwise it is a definite quadratic form. More explicitly, if ''q'' is a quadratic form on a vector space ''V'' over ''F'', then a non-zero vector ''v'' in ''V'' is said to be isotropic if . A quadratic form is isotropic if and only if there exists a non-zero isotropic vector (or null vector) for that quadratic form. Suppose that is quadratic space and ''W'' is a subspace of ''V''. Then ''W'' is called an isotropic subspace of ''V'' if ''some'' vector in it is isotropic, a totally isotropic subspace if ''all'' vectors in it are isotropic, and a definite subspace if it does not contain ''any'' (non-zero) isotropic vectors. The of a quadratic space is the maximum of the dimensions of the totally isotropic subspaces. Over the real numbers, more generally in the case where ''F'' is a real closed field (so that the signature is defined), ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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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'' . Over the reals, a quadratic form is said to be '' definite'' if it takes the value zero only when all its variables are simultaneously zero; otherwise it is '' isotropic''. Quadratic forms occupy a central place in various branches of mathematics, including number theory, linear algebra, group theory ( orthogonal groups), differential geometry (the Riemannian metric, the second fundamental form), differential topology ( intersection forms of manifolds, especially four-manifolds), Lie theory (the Killing form), and statistics (where the exponent of a zero-mean multivariate normal distribution has the quadratic form -\mathbf^\math ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Polynomial
In mathematics, a polynomial is a Expression (mathematics), mathematical expression consisting of indeterminate (variable), indeterminates (also called variable (mathematics), variables) and coefficients, that involves only the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and exponentiation to nonnegative integer powers, and has a finite number of terms. An example of a polynomial of a single indeterminate is . An example with three indeterminates is . Polynomials appear in many areas of mathematics and science. For example, they are used to form polynomial equations, which encode a wide range of problems, from elementary word problem (mathematics education), word problems to complicated scientific problems; they are used to define polynomial functions, which appear in settings ranging from basic chemistry and physics to economics and social science; and they are used in calculus and numerical analysis to approximate other functions. In advanced mathematics, polynomials are ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Algebraically Closed
In mathematics, a field is algebraically closed if every non-constant polynomial in (the univariate polynomial ring with coefficients in ) has a root in . In other words, a field is algebraically closed if the fundamental theorem of algebra holds for it. Every field K is contained in an algebraically closed field C, and the roots in C of the polynomials with coefficients in K form an algebraically closed field called an algebraic closure of K. Given two algebraic closures of K there are isomorphisms between them that fix the elements of K. Algebraically closed fields appear in the following chain of class inclusions: Examples As an example, the field of real numbers is not algebraically closed, because the polynomial equation x^2+1=0 has no solution in real numbers, even though all its coefficients (1 and 0) are real. The same argument proves that no subfield of the real field is algebraically closed; in particular, the field of rational numbers is not algebraically clos ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Orthogonal Direct Sum
In abstract algebra, the direct sum is a construction which combines several modules into a new, larger module. The direct sum of modules is the smallest module which contains the given modules as submodules with no "unnecessary" constraints, making it an example of a coproduct. Contrast with the direct product, which is the dual notion. The most familiar examples of this construction occur when considering vector spaces (modules over a field) and abelian groups (modules over the ring Z of integers). The construction may also be extended to cover Banach spaces and Hilbert spaces. See the article decomposition of a module for a way to write a module as a direct sum of submodules. Construction for vector spaces and abelian groups We give the construction first in these two cases, under the assumption that we have only two objects. Then we generalize to an arbitrary family of arbitrary modules. The key elements of the general construction are more clearly identified by con ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Inner Product Space
In mathematics, an inner product space (or, rarely, a Hausdorff pre-Hilbert space) is a real vector space or a complex vector space with an operation called an inner product. The inner product of two vectors in the space is a scalar, often denoted with angle brackets such as in \langle a, b \rangle. Inner products allow formal definitions of intuitive geometric notions, such as lengths, angles, and orthogonality (zero inner product) of vectors. Inner product spaces generalize Euclidean vector spaces, in which the inner product is the dot product or ''scalar product'' of Cartesian coordinates. Inner product spaces of infinite dimension are widely used in functional analysis. Inner product spaces over the field of complex numbers are sometimes referred to as unitary spaces. The first usage of the concept of a vector space with an inner product is due to Giuseppe Peano, in 1898. An inner product naturally induces an associated norm, (denoted , x, and , y, in the picture) ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Witt's Decomposition Theorem
:''"Witt's theorem" or "the Witt theorem" may also refer to the Bourbaki–Witt fixed point theorem of order theory.'' In mathematics, Witt's theorem, named after Ernst Witt, is a basic result in the algebraic theory of quadratic forms: any isometry between two subspaces of a nonsingular quadratic space over a field ''k'' may be extended to an isometry of the whole space. An analogous statement holds also for skew-symmetric, Hermitian and skew-Hermitian bilinear forms over arbitrary fields. The theorem applies to classification of quadratic forms over ''k'' and in particular allows one to define the Witt group ''W''(''k'') which describes the "stable" theory of quadratic forms over the field ''k''. Statement Let be a finite-dimensional vector space over a field ''k'' of characteristic different from 2 together with a non-degenerate symmetric or skew-symmetric bilinear form. If is an isometry between two subspaces of ''V'' then ''f'' extends to an isometry of ''V' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Springer-Verlag
Springer Science+Business Media, commonly known as Springer, is a German multinational publishing company of books, e-books and peer-reviewed journals in science, humanities, technical and medical (STM) publishing. Originally founded in 1842 in Berlin, it expanded internationally in the 1960s, and through mergers in the 1990s and a sale to venture capitalists it fused with Wolters Kluwer and eventually became part of Springer Nature in 2015. Springer has major offices in Berlin, Heidelberg, Dordrecht, and New York City. History Julius Springer founded Springer-Verlag in Berlin in 1842 and his son Ferdinand Springer grew it from a small firm of 4 employees into Germany's then second-largest academic publisher with 65 staff in 1872.Chronology ". Springer Science+Business Media. In 1964, Springer expanded its business internationally, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Orthogonal Complement
In the mathematical fields of linear algebra and functional analysis, the orthogonal complement of a subspace W of a vector space V equipped with a bilinear form B is the set W^\perp of all vectors in V that are orthogonal to every vector in W. Informally, it is called the perp, short for perpendicular complement. It is a subspace of V. Example Let V = (\R^5, \langle \cdot, \cdot \rangle) be the vector space equipped with the usual dot product \langle \cdot, \cdot \rangle (thus making it an inner product space), and let W = \, with \mathbf = \begin 1 & 0\\ 0 & 1\\ 2 & 6\\ 3 & 9\\ 5 & 3\\ \end. then its orthogonal complement W^\perp = \ can also be defined as W^\perp = \, being \mathbf = \begin -2 & -3 & -5 \\ -6 & -9 & -3 \\ 1 & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & 1 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 1 \end. The fact that every column vector in \mathbf is orthogonal to every column vector in \mathbf can be checked by direct computation. The fact that the spans of these vectors are orthogonal then follows by bilinearity ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hyperbolic-orthogonal
In geometry, the relation of hyperbolic orthogonality between two lines separated by the asymptotes of a hyperbola is a concept used in special relativity to define simultaneous events. Two events will be simultaneous when they are on a line hyperbolically orthogonal to a particular timeline. This dependence on a certain timeline is determined by velocity, and is the basis for the relativity of simultaneity. Furthermore, keeping time and space axes hyperbolically orthogonal, as in Minkowski space, gives a constant result when measurements are taken of the speed of light. Geometry Two lines are hyperbolic orthogonal when they are reflections of each other over the asymptote of a given hyperbola. Two particular hyperbolas are frequently used in the plane: The relation of hyperbolic orthogonality actually applies to classes of parallel lines in the plane, where any particular line can represent the class. Thus, for a given hyperbola and asymptote ''A'', a pair of lines (''a'', ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Orthogonal
In mathematics, orthogonality (mathematics), orthogonality is the generalization of the geometric notion of ''perpendicularity''. Although many authors use the two terms ''perpendicular'' and ''orthogonal'' interchangeably, the term ''perpendicular'' is more specifically used for lines and planes that intersect to form a right angle, whereas ''orthogonal'' is used in generalizations, such as ''orthogonal vectors'' or ''orthogonal curves''. ''Orthogonality'' is also used with various meanings that are often weakly related or not related at all with the mathematical meanings. Etymology The word comes from the Ancient Greek ('), meaning "upright", and ('), meaning "angle". The Ancient Greek (') and Classical Latin ' originally denoted a rectangle. Later, they came to mean a right triangle. In the 12th century, the post-classical Latin word ''orthogonalis'' came to mean a right angle or something related to a right angle. Mathematics Physics Optics In optics, polarization ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Symmetric Bilinear Form
In mathematics, a symmetric bilinear form on a vector space is a bilinear map from two copies of the vector space to the field of scalars such that the order of the two vectors does not affect the value of the map. In other words, it is a bilinear function B that maps every pair (u,v) of elements of the vector space V to the underlying field such that B(u,v)=B(v,u) for every u and v in V. They are also referred to more briefly as just symmetric forms when "bilinear" is understood. Symmetric bilinear forms on finite-dimensional vector spaces precisely correspond to symmetric matrices given a basis for ''V''. Among bilinear forms, the symmetric ones are important because they are the ones for which the vector space admits a particularly simple kind of basis known as an orthogonal basis (at least when the characteristic of the field is not 2). Given a symmetric bilinear form ''B'', the function is the associated quadratic form on the vector space. Moreover, if the characterist ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |