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Dupin Indicatrix
In differential geometry, the Dupin indicatrix is a method for characterising the local shape of a surface. Draw a plane parallel to the tangent plane and a small distance away from it. Consider the intersection of the surface with this plane. The shape of the intersection is related to the Gaussian curvature. The Dupin indicatrix is the result of the limiting process as the plane approaches the tangent plane. The indicatrix was invented by Charles Dupin. For elliptical points where the Gaussian curvature is positive the intersection will either be empty or form a closed curve. In the limit this curve will form an ellipse aligned with the principal directions. For hyperbolic points, where the Gaussian curvature is negative, the intersection will form a hyperbola. Two different hyperbolas will be formed on either side of the tangent plane. These hyperbolas share the same axis and asymptotes. The directions of the asymptotes are the same as the asymptotic directions. See also * E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Differential Geometry
Differential geometry is a mathematical discipline that studies the geometry of smooth shapes and smooth spaces, otherwise known as smooth manifolds. It uses the techniques of differential calculus, integral calculus, linear algebra and multilinear algebra. The field has its origins in the study of spherical geometry as far back as antiquity. It also relates to astronomy, the geodesy of the Earth, and later the study of hyperbolic geometry by Lobachevsky. The simplest examples of smooth spaces are the plane and space curves and surfaces in the three-dimensional Euclidean space, and the study of these shapes formed the basis for development of modern differential geometry during the 18th and 19th centuries. Since the late 19th century, differential geometry has grown into a field concerned more generally with geometric structures on differentiable manifolds. A geometric structure is one which defines some notion of size, distance, shape, volume, or other rigidifying structu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Surface (differential Geometry)
In mathematics, the differential geometry of surfaces deals with the differential geometry of smooth surfaces with various additional structures, most often, a Riemannian metric. Surfaces have been extensively studied from various perspectives: ''extrinsically'', relating to their embedding in Euclidean space and ''intrinsically'', reflecting their properties determined solely by the distance within the surface as measured along curves on the surface. One of the fundamental concepts investigated is the Gaussian curvature, first studied in depth by Carl Friedrich Gauss, who showed that curvature was an intrinsic property of a surface, independent of its isometric embedding in Euclidean space. Surfaces naturally arise as graphs of functions of a pair of variables, and sometimes appear in parametric form or as loci associated to space curves. An important role in their study has been played by Lie groups (in the spirit of the Erlangen program), namely the symmetry groups of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plane (geometry)
In mathematics, a plane is a Euclidean (flat), two-dimensional surface that extends indefinitely. A plane is the two-dimensional analogue of a point (zero dimensions), a line (one dimension) and three-dimensional space. Planes can arise as subspaces of some higher-dimensional space, as with one of a room's walls, infinitely extended, or they may enjoy an independent existence in their own right, as in the setting of two-dimensional Euclidean geometry. Sometimes the word ''plane'' is used more generally to describe a two-dimensional surface, for example the hyperbolic plane and elliptic plane. When working exclusively in two-dimensional Euclidean space, the definite article is used, so ''the'' plane refers to the whole space. Many fundamental tasks in mathematics, geometry, trigonometry, graph theory, and graphing are performed in a two-dimensional space, often in the plane. Euclidean geometry Euclid set forth the first great landmark of mathematical thought, an axiomatic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parallel (geometry)
In geometry, parallel lines are coplanar straight lines that do not intersect at any point. Parallel planes are planes in the same three-dimensional space that never meet. ''Parallel curves'' are curves that do not touch each other or intersect and keep a fixed minimum distance. In three-dimensional Euclidean space, a line and a plane that do not share a point are also said to be parallel. However, two noncoplanar lines are called ''skew lines''. Parallel lines are the subject of Euclid's parallel postulate. Parallelism is primarily a property of affine geometries and Euclidean geometry is a special instance of this type of geometry. In some other geometries, such as hyperbolic geometry, lines can have analogous properties that are referred to as parallelism. Symbol The parallel symbol is \parallel. For example, AB \parallel CD indicates that line ''AB'' is parallel to line ''CD''. In the Unicode character set, the "parallel" and "not parallel" signs have codepoint ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tangent Space
In mathematics, the tangent space of a manifold generalizes to higher dimensions the notion of '' tangent planes'' to surfaces in three dimensions and ''tangent lines'' to curves in two dimensions. In the context of physics the tangent space to a manifold at a point can be viewed as the space of possible velocities for a particle moving on the manifold. Informal description In differential geometry, one can attach to every point x of a differentiable manifold a ''tangent space''—a real vector space that intuitively contains the possible directions in which one can tangentially pass through x . The elements of the tangent space at x are called the ''tangent vectors'' at x . This is a generalization of the notion of a vector, based at a given initial point, in a Euclidean space. The dimension of the tangent space at every point of a connected manifold is the same as that of the manifold itself. For example, if the given manifold is a 2 -sphere, then one can picture the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gaussian Curvature
In differential geometry, the Gaussian curvature or Gauss curvature of a surface at a point is the product of the principal curvatures, and , at the given point: K = \kappa_1 \kappa_2. The Gaussian radius of curvature is the reciprocal of . For example, a sphere of radius has Gaussian curvature everywhere, and a flat plane and a cylinder have Gaussian curvature zero everywhere. The Gaussian curvature can also be negative, as in the case of a hyperboloid or the inside of a torus. Gaussian curvature is an ''intrinsic'' measure of curvature, depending only on distances that are measured “within” or along the surface, not on the way it is isometrically embedding, embedded in Euclidean space. This is the content of the ''Theorema egregium''. Gaussian curvature is named after Carl Friedrich Gauss, who published the ''Theorema egregium'' in 1827. Informal definition At any point on a surface, we can find a Normal (geometry), normal vector that is at right angles to the sur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Dupin
Baron Pierre Charles François Dupin (6 October 1784, Varzy, Nièvre – 18 January 1873, Paris, France) was a French Catholic mathematician, engineer, economist and politician, particularly known for work in the field of mathematics, where the Dupin cyclide and Dupin indicatrix are named after him; and for his work in the field of statistical and thematic mapping.Palsky, Gilles.Connections and Exchanges in European Thematic Cartography. The case of XIXth century choropleth maps" ''Formatting Europe. Mapping a continent.'' 2007 In 1826 he created the earliest known choropleth map.Michael Friendly (2008)"Milestones in the history of thematic cartography, statistical graphics, and data visualization" Life and work He was born in Varzy in France, the son of Charles Andre Dupin, a lawyer, and Catherine Agnes Dupin. Dupin studied geometry with Monge at the École Polytechnique and then became a naval engineer (ENSTA). His mathematical work was in descriptive and differential geom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ellipse
In mathematics, an ellipse is a plane curve surrounding two focus (geometry), focal points, such that for all points on the curve, the sum of the two distances to the focal points is a constant. It generalizes a circle, which is the special type of ellipse in which the two focal points are the same. The elongation of an ellipse is measured by its eccentricity (mathematics), eccentricity e, a number ranging from e = 0 (the Limiting case (mathematics), limiting case of a circle) to e = 1 (the limiting case of infinite elongation, no longer an ellipse but a parabola). An ellipse has a simple algebraic solution for its area, but only approximations for its perimeter (also known as circumference), for which integration is required to obtain an exact solution. Analytic geometry, Analytically, the equation of a standard ellipse centered at the origin with width 2a and height 2b is: : \frac+\frac = 1 . Assuming a \ge b, the foci are (\pm c, 0) for c = \sqrt. The standard parametric e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Principal Curvature
In differential geometry, the two principal curvatures at a given point of a surface are the maximum and minimum values of the curvature as expressed by the eigenvalues of the shape operator at that point. They measure how the surface bends by different amounts in different directions at that point. Discussion At each point ''p'' of a differentiable surface in 3-dimensional Euclidean space one may choose a unit '' normal vector''. A '' normal plane'' at ''p'' is one that contains the normal vector, and will therefore also contain a unique direction tangent to the surface and cut the surface in a plane curve, called normal section. This curve will in general have different curvatures for different normal planes at ''p''. The principal curvatures at ''p'', denoted ''k''1 and ''k''2, are the maximum and minimum values of this curvature. Here the curvature of a curve is by definition the reciprocal of the radius of the osculating circle. The curvature is taken to be positive i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hyperbola
In mathematics, a hyperbola (; pl. hyperbolas or hyperbolae ; adj. hyperbolic ) is a type of smooth curve lying in a plane, defined by its geometric properties or by equations for which it is the solution set. A hyperbola has two pieces, called connected components or branches, that are mirror images of each other and resemble two infinite bows. The hyperbola is one of the three kinds of conic section, formed by the intersection of a plane and a double cone. (The other conic sections are the parabola and the ellipse. A circle is a special case of an ellipse.) If the plane intersects both halves of the double cone but does not pass through the apex of the cones, then the conic is a hyperbola. Hyperbolas arise in many ways: * as the curve representing the reciprocal function y(x) = 1/x in the Cartesian plane, * as the path followed by the shadow of the tip of a sundial, * as the shape of an open orbit (as distinct from a closed elliptical orbit), such as the orbit of a s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Asymptotic Direction
In the differential geometry of surfaces, an asymptotic curve is a curve always tangent to an asymptotic direction of the surface (where they exist). It is sometimes called an asymptotic line, although it need not be a line. Definitions An asymptotic direction is one in which the normal curvature is zero. Which is to say: for a point on an asymptotic curve, take the plane which bears both the curve's tangent and the surface's normal at that point. The curve of intersection of the plane and the surface will have zero curvature at that point. Asymptotic directions can only occur when the Gaussian curvature is negative (or zero). There will be two asymptotic directions through every point with negative Gaussian curvature, bisected by the principal directions. If the surface is minimal, the asymptotic directions are orthogonal to one another. Related notions The direction of the asymptotic direction are the same as the asymptotes of the hyperbola of the Dupin indicatrix. A rel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Euler's Theorem (differential Geometry)
In the mathematical field of differential geometry, Euler's theorem is a result on the curvature of curves on a surface. The theorem establishes the existence of principal curvatures and associated ''principal directions'' which give the directions in which the surface curves the most and the least. The theorem is named for Leonhard Euler who proved the theorem in . More precisely, let ''M'' be a surface in three-dimensional Euclidean space, and ''p'' a point on ''M''. A '' normal plane'' through ''p'' is a plane passing through the point ''p'' containing the '' normal vector'' to ''M''. Through each (unit) tangent vector to ''M'' at ''p'', there passes a normal plane ''P''''X'' which cuts out a curve in ''M''. That curve has a certain curvature κ''X'' when regarded as a curve inside ''P''''X''. Provided not all κ''X'' are equal, there is some unit vector ''X''1 for which ''k''1 = κ''X''1 is as large as possible, and another unit vector ''X''2 fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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