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Indeterminate Forms
In calculus and other branches of mathematical analysis, limits involving an algebraic combination of functions in an independent variable may often be evaluated by replacing these functions by their limits; if the expression obtained after this substitution does not provide sufficient information to determine the original limit, then the expression is called an indeterminate form. More specifically, an indeterminate form is a mathematical expression involving at most two of 0~, 1 or \infty, obtained by applying the algebraic limit theorem in the process of attempting to determine a limit, which fails to restrict that limit to one specific value or infinity, and thus does not determine the limit being sought. A limit confirmed to be infinity is not indeterminate since it has been determined to have a specific value (infinity). The term was originally introduced by Cauchy's student Moigno in the middle of the 19th century. There are seven indeterminate forms which are typically cons ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Calculus
Calculus, originally called infinitesimal calculus or "the calculus of infinitesimals", is the mathematical study of continuous change, in the same way that geometry is the study of shape, and algebra is the study of generalizations of arithmetic operations. It has two major branches, differential calculus and integral calculus; the former concerns instantaneous Rate of change (mathematics), rates of change, and the slopes of curves, while the latter concerns accumulation of quantities, and areas under or between curves. These two branches are related to each other by the fundamental theorem of calculus, and they make use of the fundamental notions of convergence (mathematics), convergence of infinite sequences and Series (mathematics), infinite series to a well-defined limit (mathematics), limit. Infinitesimal calculus was developed independently in the late 17th century by Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. Later work, including (ε, δ)-definition of limit, codify ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Extended Real Number
In mathematics, the affinely extended real number system is obtained from the real number system \R by adding two infinity elements: +\infty and -\infty, where the infinities are treated as actual numbers. It is useful in describing the algebra on infinities and the various limiting behaviors in calculus and mathematical analysis, especially in the theory of measure and integration. The affinely extended real number system is denoted \overline or \infty, +\infty/math> or It is the Dedekind–MacNeille completion of the real numbers. When the meaning is clear from context, the symbol +\infty is often written simply as Motivation Limits It is often useful to describe the behavior of a function f, as either the argument x or the function value f gets "infinitely large" in some sense. For example, consider the function f defined by :f(x) = \frac. The graph of this function has a horizontal asymptote at y = 0. Geometrically, when moving increasingly farther to the right along ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indeterminate System
In mathematics, particularly in algebra, an indeterminate system is a system of simultaneous equations (e.g., linear equations) which has more than one solution (sometimes infinitely many solutions). In the case of a linear system, the system may be said to be underspecified, in which case the presence of more than one solution would imply an infinite number of solutions (since the system would be describable in terms of at least one free variable), but that property does not extend to nonlinear systems (e.g., the system with the equation x^2=1 ). An indeterminate system by definition is consistent, in the sense of having at least one solution. For a system of linear equations, the number of equations in an indeterminate system could be the same as the number of unknowns, less than the number of unknowns (an underdetermined system), or greater than the number of unknowns (an overdetermined system). Conversely, any of those three cases may or may not be indeterminate. Examples Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indeterminate Equation
In mathematics, particularly in algebra, an indeterminate equation is an equation for which there is more than one solution. For example, the equation ax + by =c is a simple indeterminate equation, as is x^2=1. Indeterminate equations cannot be solved uniquely. In fact, in some cases it might even have infinitely many solutions. Some of the prominent examples of indeterminate equations include: Univariate polynomial equation: :a_nx^n+a_x^+\dots +a_2x^2+a_1x+a_0 = 0, which has multiple solutions for the variable x in the complex plane—unless it can be rewritten in the form a_n(x-b)^n = 0. Non-degenerate conic equation: :Ax^2 + Bxy + Cy^2 +Dx + Ey + F = 0, where at least one of the given parameters A, B, and C is non-zero, and x and y are real variables. Pell's equation: :\ x^2 - Py^2 = 1, where P is a given integer that is not a square number, and in which the variables x and y are required to be integers. The equation of Pythagorean triples: :x^2+y^2=z^2, in which the vari ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Extended Real Number Line
In mathematics, the affinely extended real number system is obtained from the real number system \R by adding two infinity elements: +\infty and -\infty, where the infinities are treated as actual numbers. It is useful in describing the algebra on infinities and the various limiting behaviors in calculus and mathematical analysis, especially in the theory of measure and integration. The affinely extended real number system is denoted \overline or \infty, +\infty/math> or It is the Dedekind–MacNeille completion of the real numbers. When the meaning is clear from context, the symbol +\infty is often written simply as Motivation Limits It is often useful to describe the behavior of a function f, as either the argument x or the function value f gets "infinitely large" in some sense. For example, consider the function f defined by :f(x) = \frac. The graph of this function has a horizontal asymptote at y = 0. Geometrically, when moving increasingly farther to the right along t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Division By Zero
In mathematics, division by zero is division (mathematics), division where the divisor (denominator) is 0, zero. Such a division can be formally expression (mathematics), expressed as \tfrac, where is the dividend (numerator). In ordinary arithmetic, the expression has no meaning, as there is no number that, when multiplied by , gives (assuming a \neq 0); thus, division by zero is undefined (mathematics), undefined. Since any number multiplied by zero is zero, the expression 0/0, \tfrac is also undefined; when it is the form of a limit (mathematics), limit, it is an Indeterminate form#Indeterminate form 0/0, indeterminate form. Historically, one of the earliest recorded references to the mathematical impossibility of assigning a value to \tfrac is contained in Anglo-Irish people, Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkeley's criticism of infinitesimal calculus in 1734 in ''The Analyst'' ("ghosts of departed quantities"). There are mathematical structures in which \tfrac is define ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Defined And Undefined
In mathematics, the term undefined is often used to refer to an expression which is not assigned an interpretation or a value (such as an indeterminate form, which has the propensity of assuming different values). The term can take on several different meanings depending on the context. For example: * In various branches of mathematics, certain concepts are introduced as primitive notions (e.g., the terms "point", "line" and "angle" in geometry). As these terms are not defined in terms of other concepts, they may be referred to as "undefined terms". * A function is said to be "undefined" at points outside of its domainfor example, the real-valued function f(x)=\sqrt is undefined for negative x (i.e., it assigns no value to negative arguments). * In algebra, some arithmetic operations may not assign a meaning to certain values of its operands (e.g., division by zero). In which case, the expressions involving such operands are termed "undefined". Undefined terms In ancient tim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Continuous Function
In 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 . Up 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 mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Natural Logarithm
The natural logarithm of a number is its logarithm to the base of the mathematical constant , which is an irrational and transcendental number approximately equal to . The natural logarithm of is generally written as , , or sometimes, if the base is implicit, simply . Parentheses are sometimes added for clarity, giving , , or . This is done particularly when the argument to the logarithm is not a single symbol, so as to prevent ambiguity. The natural logarithm of is the power to which would have to be raised to equal . For example, is , because . The natural logarithm of itself, , is , because , while the natural logarithm of is , since . The natural logarithm can be defined for any positive real number as the area under the curve from to (with the area being negative when ). The simplicity of this definition, which is matched in many other formulas involving the natural logarithm, leads to the term "natural". The definition of the natural logarithm can then b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Derivative (calculus)
In mathematics, the derivative of a function of a real variable measures the sensitivity to change of the function value (output value) with respect to a change in its argument (input value). Derivatives are a fundamental tool of calculus. For example, the derivative of the position of a moving object with respect to time is the object's velocity: this measures how quickly the position of the object changes when time advances. The derivative of a function of a single variable at a chosen input value, when it exists, is the slope of the tangent line to the graph of the function at that point. The tangent line is the best linear approximation of the function near that input value. For this reason, the derivative is often described as the "instantaneous rate of change", the ratio of the instantaneous change in the dependent variable to that of the independent variable. Derivatives can be generalized to functions of several real variables. In this generalization, the deriva ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Infinitesimal
In mathematics, an infinitesimal number is a quantity that is closer to zero than any standard real number, but that is not zero. The word ''infinitesimal'' comes from a 17th-century Modern Latin coinage ''infinitesimus'', which originally referred to the " infinity- th" item in a sequence. Infinitesimals do not exist in the standard real number system, but they do exist in other number systems, such as the surreal number system and the hyperreal number system, which can be thought of as the real numbers augmented with both infinitesimal and infinite quantities; the augmentations are the reciprocals of one another. Infinitesimal numbers were introduced in the development of calculus, in which the derivative was first conceived as a ratio of two infinitesimal quantities. This definition was not rigorously formalized. As calculus developed further, infinitesimals were replaced by limits, which can be calculated using the standard real numbers. Infinitesimals regained popularit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
L'Hôpital's Rule
In calculus, l'Hôpital's rule or l'Hospital's rule (, , ), also known as Bernoulli's rule, is a theorem which provides a technique to evaluate limits of indeterminate forms. Application (or repeated application) of the rule often converts an indeterminate form to an expression that can be easily evaluated by substitution. The rule is named after the 17th-century French mathematician Guillaume de l'Hôpital. Although the rule is often attributed to l'Hôpital, the theorem was first introduced to him in 1694 by the Swiss mathematician Johann Bernoulli. L'Hôpital's rule states that for functions and which are differentiable on an open interval except possibly at a point contained in , if \lim_f(x)=\lim_g(x)=0 \text \pm\infty, and g'(x)\ne 0 for all in with , and \lim_\frac exists, then :\lim_\frac = \lim_\frac. The differentiation of the numerator and denominator often simplifies the quotient or converts it to a limit that can be evaluated directly. History Guillaume ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
