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Train Track (mathematics)
In the mathematical area of topology, a train track is a family of curves embedded on a surface, meeting the following conditions: #The curves meet at a finite set of vertices called ''switches''. #Away from the switches, the curves are smooth and do not touch each other. #At each switch, three curves meet with the same tangent line, with two curves entering from one direction and one from the other. The main application of train tracks in mathematics is to study laminations of surfaces, that is, partitions of closed subsets of surfaces into unions of smooth curves. Train tracks have also been used in graph drawing. Train tracks and laminations A lamination of a surface is a partition of a closed subset of the surface into smooth curves. The study of train tracks was originally motivated by the following observation: If a generic lamination on a surface is looked at from a distance by a myopic person, it will look like a train track. A switch in a train track models a point w ... [...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] |
Topology
Topology (from the Greek language, Greek words , and ) is the branch of mathematics concerned with the properties of a Mathematical object, geometric object that are preserved under Continuous function, continuous Deformation theory, deformations, such as Stretch factor, stretching, Torsion (mechanics), twisting, crumpling, and bending; that is, without closing holes, opening holes, tearing, gluing, or passing through itself. A topological space is a Set (mathematics), set endowed with a structure, called a ''Topology (structure), topology'', which allows defining continuous deformation of subspaces, and, more generally, all kinds of List of continuity-related mathematical topics, continuity. Euclidean spaces, and, more generally, metric spaces are examples of topological spaces, as any distance or metric defines a topology. The deformations that are considered in topology are homeomorphisms and Homotopy, homotopies. A property that is invariant under such deformations is a to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Surface (topology)
In the part of mathematics referred to as topology, a surface is a two-dimensional manifold. Some surfaces arise as the boundaries of three-dimensional solid figures; for example, the sphere is the boundary of the solid ball. Other surfaces arise as graphs of functions of two variables; see the figure at right. However, surfaces can also be defined abstractly, without reference to any ambient space. For example, the Klein bottle is a surface that cannot be embedded in three-dimensional Euclidean space. Topological surfaces are sometimes equipped with additional information, such as a Riemannian metric or a complex structure, that connects them to other disciplines within mathematics, such as differential geometry and complex analysis. The various mathematical notions of surface can be used to model surfaces in the physical world. In general In mathematics, a surface is a geometrical shape that resembles a deformed plane. The most familiar examples arise as boundaries ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lamination (mathematics)
In topology, a branch of mathematics, a lamination is a : * "topological space partitioned into subsets" * decoration (a structure or property at a point) of a manifold in which some subset of the manifold is partitioned into sheets of some lower dimension, and the sheets are locally parallel. A lamination of a surface is a partition of a closed subset of the surface into smooth curves. It may or may not be possible to fill the gaps in a lamination to make a foliation. Oak Ridge National Laboratory Examples *A geodesic lamination of a 2-dimensional hyperbolic manifold is a closed subset together with a foliation of this closed subset by geodesics. These are used in Thurston's classification of elements of the mapping class group and in his theory of earthquake maps. *Quadratic laminations, which remain invariant under the angle doubling map. These laminations are associated with quadratic maps. It is a closed collection of chords in the unit disc. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Graph Drawing
Graph drawing is an area of mathematics and computer science combining methods from geometric graph theory and information visualization to derive two-dimensional depictions of graph (discrete mathematics), graphs arising from applications such as social network analysis, cartography, linguistics, and bioinformatics. A drawing of a graph or network diagram is a pictorial representation of the vertex (graph theory), vertices and edge (graph theory), edges of a graph. This drawing should not be confused with the graph itself: very different layouts can correspond to the same graph., p. 6. In the abstract, all that matters is which pairs of vertices are connected by edges. In the concrete, however, the arrangement of these vertices and edges within a drawing affects its understandability, usability, fabrication cost, and aesthetics. The problem gets worse if the graph changes over time by adding and deleting edges (dynamic graph drawing) and the goal is to preserve the user's men ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Euler Characteristic
In mathematics, and more specifically in algebraic topology and polyhedral combinatorics, the Euler characteristic (or Euler number, or Euler–Poincaré characteristic) is a topological invariant, a number that describes a topological space's shape or structure regardless of the way it is bent. It is commonly denoted by \chi (Greek alphabet, Greek lower-case letter chi (letter), chi). The Euler characteristic was originally defined for polyhedron, polyhedra and used to prove various theorems about them, including the classification of the Platonic solids. It was stated for Platonic solids in 1537 in an unpublished manuscript by Francesco Maurolico. Leonhard Euler, for whom the concept is named, introduced it for convex polyhedra more generally but failed to rigorously prove that it is an invariant. In modern mathematics, the Euler characteristic arises from homology (mathematics), homology and, more abstractly, homological algebra. Polyhedra The Euler characteristic was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Real Number
In mathematics, a real number is a number that can be used to measure a continuous one- dimensional quantity such as a duration or temperature. Here, ''continuous'' means that pairs of values can have arbitrarily small differences. Every real number can be almost uniquely represented by an infinite decimal expansion. The real numbers are fundamental in calculus (and in many other branches of mathematics), in particular by their role in the classical definitions of limits, continuity and derivatives. The set of real numbers, sometimes called "the reals", is traditionally denoted by a bold , often using blackboard bold, . The adjective ''real'', used in the 17th century by René Descartes, distinguishes real numbers from imaginary numbers such as the square roots of . The real numbers include the rational numbers, such as the integer and the fraction . The rest of the real numbers are called irrational numbers. Some irrational numbers (as well as all the rationals) a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
