Mean Curvature
In mathematics, the mean curvature H of a surface S is an ''extrinsic'' measure of curvature that comes from differential geometry and that locally describes the curvature of an embedded surface in some ambient space such as Euclidean space. The concept was used by Sophie Germain in her work on elasticity theory. Jean Baptiste Marie Meusnier used it in 1776, in his studies of minimal surfaces. It is important in the analysis of minimal surfaces, which have mean curvature zero, and in the analysis of physical interfaces between fluids (such as soap films) which, for example, have constant mean curvature in static flows, by the Young–Laplace equation. Definition Let p be a point on the surface S inside the three dimensional Euclidean space . Each plane through p containing the normal line to S cuts S in a (plane) curve. Fixing a choice of unit normal gives a signed curvature to that curve. As the plane is rotated by an angle \theta (always containing the normal line) that cur ... [...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]   |
|
Hypersurface
In geometry, a hypersurface is a generalization of the concepts of hyperplane, plane curve, and surface. A hypersurface is a manifold or an algebraic variety of dimension , which is embedded in an ambient space of dimension , generally a Euclidean space, an affine space or a projective space. Hypersurfaces share, with surfaces in a three-dimensional space, the property of being defined by a single implicit equation, at least locally (near every point), and sometimes globally. A hypersurface in a (Euclidean, affine, or projective) space of dimension two is a plane curve. In a space of dimension three, it is a surface. For example, the equation :x_1^2+x_2^2+\cdots+x_n^2-1=0 defines an algebraic hypersurface of dimension in the Euclidean space of dimension . This hypersurface is also a smooth manifold, and is called a hypersphere or an -sphere. Smooth hypersurface A hypersurface that is a smooth manifold is called a ''smooth hypersurface''. In , a smooth hypersurface is ori ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
First Fundamental Form
In differential geometry, the first fundamental form is the inner product on the tangent space of a surface in three-dimensional Euclidean space which is induced canonically from the dot product of . It permits the calculation of curvature and metric properties of a surface such as length and area in a manner consistent with the ambient space. The first fundamental form is denoted by the Roman numeral , \mathrm(x,y)= \langle x,y \rangle. Definition Let be a parametric surface. Then the inner product of two tangent vectors is \begin & \mathrm(aX_u+bX_v,cX_u+dX_v) \\ pt= & ac \langle X_u,X_u \rangle + (ad+bc) \langle X_u,X_v \rangle + bd \langle X_v,X_v \rangle \\ pt= & Eac + F(ad+bc) + Gbd, \end where , , and are the coefficients of the first fundamental form. The first fundamental form may be represented as a symmetric matrix. \mathrm(x,y) = x^\mathsf \begin E & F \\ F & G \endy Further notation When the first fundamental form is written with only one argument ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Parameter Space
The parameter space is the space of all possible parameter values that define a particular mathematical model. It is also sometimes called weight space, and is often a subset of finite-dimensional Euclidean space. In statistics, parameter spaces are particularly useful for describing parametric families of probability distributions. They also form the background for parameter estimation. In the case of extremum estimators for parametric models, a certain objective function is maximized or minimized over the parameter space. Theorems of existence and consistency of such estimators require some assumptions about the topology of the parameter space. For instance, compactness of the parameter space, together with continuity of the objective function, suffices for the existence of an extremum estimator. Sometimes, parameters are analyzed to view how they affect their statistical model. In that context, they can be viewed as inputs of a function, in which case the technical term for ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Divergence
In vector calculus, divergence is a vector operator that operates on a vector field, producing a scalar field giving the rate that the vector field alters the volume in an infinitesimal neighborhood of each point. (In 2D this "volume" refers to area.) More precisely, the divergence at a point is the rate that the flow of the vector field modifies a volume about the point ''in the limit'', as a small volume shrinks down to the point. As an example, consider air as it is heated or cooled. The velocity of the air at each point defines a vector field. While air is heated in a region, it expands in all directions, and thus the velocity field points outward from that region. The divergence of the velocity field in that region would thus have a positive value. While the air is cooled and thus contracting, the divergence of the velocity has a negative value. Physical interpretation of divergence In physical terms, the divergence of a vector field is the extent to which the vector fi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Surface Normal
In geometry, a normal is an object (e.g. a line, ray, or vector) that is perpendicular to a given object. For example, the normal line to a plane curve at a given point is the infinite straight line perpendicular to the tangent line to the curve at the point. A normal vector is a vector perpendicular to a given object at a particular point. A normal vector of length one is called a unit normal vector or normal direction. A curvature vector is a normal vector whose length is the curvature of the object. Multiplying a normal vector by results in the opposite vector, which may be used for indicating sides (e.g., interior or exterior). In three-dimensional space, a surface normal, or simply normal, to a surface at point is a vector perpendicular to the tangent plane of the surface at . The vector field of normal directions to a surface is known as '' Gauss map''. The word "normal" is also used as an adjective: a line ''normal'' to a plane, the ''normal'' component of ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Pacific Journal Of Mathematics
The Pacific Journal of Mathematics is a mathematics research journal supported by several universities and research institutes, and currently published on their behalf by Mathematical Sciences Publishers, a non-profit academic publishing organisation, and the University of California, Berkeley. It was founded in 1951 by František Wolf and Edwin F. Beckenbach and has been published continuously since, with five two-issue volumes per year and 12 issues per year. Full-text PDF versions of all journal articles are available on-line via the journal's website with a subscription. The journal is incorporated as a 501(c)(3) organization A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, Trust (business), trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of .... The 255-page proof of the odd order theorem, by Walter Feit and John Griggs Thompson, was publi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Sphere
A sphere (from Ancient Greek, Greek , ) is a surface (mathematics), surface analogous to the circle, a curve. In solid geometry, a sphere is the Locus (mathematics), set of points that are all at the same distance from a given point in three-dimensional space.. That given point is the center (geometry), ''center'' of the sphere, and the distance is the sphere's ''radius''. The earliest known mentions of spheres appear in the work of the Greek mathematics, ancient Greek mathematicians. The sphere is a fundamental surface in many fields of mathematics. Spheres and nearly-spherical shapes also appear in nature and industry. Bubble (physics), Bubbles such as soap bubbles take a spherical shape in equilibrium. The Earth is spherical Earth, often approximated as a sphere in geography, and the celestial sphere is an important concept in astronomy. Manufactured items including pressure vessels and most curved mirrors and lenses are based on spheres. Spheres rolling, roll smoothly in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Mean Curvature Flow
In the field of differential geometry in mathematics, mean curvature flow is an example of a geometric flow of hypersurfaces in a Riemannian manifold (for example, smooth surfaces in 3-dimensional Euclidean space). Intuitively, a family of surfaces evolves under mean curvature flow if the normal component of the velocity of which a point on the surface moves is given by the mean curvature of the surface. For example, a round sphere evolves under mean curvature flow by shrinking inward uniformly (since the mean curvature vector of a sphere points inward). Except in special cases, the mean curvature flow develops singularities. Under the constraint that volume enclosed is constant, this is called surface tension flow. It is a parabolic partial differential equation, and can be interpreted as "smoothing". Existence and uniqueness The following was shown by Michael Gage and Richard S. Hamilton as an application of Hamilton's general existence theorem for parabolic geometric ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Heat Equation
In mathematics and physics (more specifically thermodynamics), the heat equation is a parabolic partial differential equation. The theory of the heat equation was first developed by Joseph Fourier in 1822 for the purpose of modeling how a quantity such as heat diffuses through a given region. Since then, the heat equation and its variants have been found to be fundamental in many parts of both pure and applied mathematics. Definition Given an open subset of and a subinterval of , one says that a function is a solution of the heat equation if : \frac = \frac + \cdots + \frac, where denotes a general point of the domain. It is typical to refer to as time and as spatial variables, even in abstract contexts where these phrases fail to have their intuitive meaning. The collection of spatial variables is often referred to simply as . For any given value of , the right-hand side of the equation is the Laplace operator, Laplacian of the function . As such, the heat equation is ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
If And Only If
In logic and related fields such as mathematics and philosophy, "if and only if" (often shortened as "iff") is paraphrased by the biconditional, a logical connective between statements. The biconditional is true in two cases, where either both statements are true or both are false. The connective is biconditional (a statement of material equivalence), and can be likened to the standard material conditional ("only if", equal to "if ... then") combined with its reverse ("if"); hence the name. The result is that the truth of either one of the connected statements requires the truth of the other (i.e. either both statements are true, or both are false), though it is controversial whether the connective thus defined is properly rendered by the English "if and only if"—with its pre-existing meaning. For example, ''P if and only if Q'' means that ''P'' is true whenever ''Q'' is true, and the only case in which ''P'' is true is if ''Q'' is also true, whereas in the case of ''P if Q ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Metric Tensor
In the mathematical field of differential geometry, a metric tensor (or simply metric) is an additional structure on a manifold (such as a surface) that allows defining distances and angles, just as the inner product on a Euclidean space allows defining distances and angles there. More precisely, a metric tensor at a point of is a bilinear form defined on the tangent space at (that is, a bilinear function that maps pairs of tangent vectors to real numbers), and a metric field on consists of a metric tensor at each point of that varies smoothly with . A metric tensor is ''positive-definite'' if for every nonzero vector . A manifold equipped with a positive-definite metric tensor is known as a Riemannian manifold. Such a metric tensor can be thought of as specifying ''infinitesimal'' distance on the manifold. On a Riemannian manifold , the length of a smooth curve between two points and can be defined by integration, and the distance between and can be defined as ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |