Orientation may refer to:

Positioning in physical space

Map orientation A map is a symbolic depiction emphasizing relationships between elements of some space, such as objects, regions, or themes. Many maps are static, fixed to paper or some other durable medium, while others are dynamic or interactive. Although ...

, the relationship between directions on a map and compass directions * Orientation (housing), the position of a building with respect to the sun, a concept in building design *

Orientation of churches Within church architecture, orientation is an arrangement by which the point of main interest in the interior is towards the east ( la, oriens). The east end is where the altar is placed, often within an apse. The façade and main entrance are acc ...

, the architectural feature of facing ("orienting"), churches towards the east (Latin: oriens) *

Coin orientation Coin orientation (or coin alignment or variations of these) is the relation of the vertical orientation of the images on the obverse and reverse sides of coins to one another. The two basic relations are called ''medallic orientation'' and ''coi ...

, a description of the orientation of opposite faces of a coin with respect to one another *

Page orientation Page orientation is the way in which a rectangular page is oriented for normal viewing. The two most common types of orientation are ''portrait'' and ''landscape''. The term "portrait orientation" comes from visual art terminology and describes ...

, the way in which a rectangular page is oriented for normal viewing * In

Animal navigation Animal navigation is the ability of many animals to find their way accurately without maps or instruments. Birds such as the Arctic tern, insects such as the monarch butterfly and fish such as the salmon regularly migrate thousands of miles t ...

, turning the body to a desired heading, e.g. in the correct direction of migration *

Orientation (sign language) In sign languages, orientation () is the distinctive relative degree of rotation of the hand when signing. Orientation is one of five components of a sign, along with handshape (), location (), movement (), and nonmanual features. See also *Ame ...

, the orientation of the hands when signing

Arts and media

* ''Orientation'' (EP), a 2001 album by Sonata Arctica * ''Orientation'' (film), a 1996 short film produced by the Church of Scientology * "Orientation" (''Lost''), a 2005 episode of American television series ''Lost'' * "

Orientación The third season of ''Prison Break'', an American serial drama television series, commenced airing in the United States on September 17, 2007, on Mondays at 8:00 pm ( EST) on Fox. ''Prison Break'' is produced by Adelstein-Parouse Productions, in ...

", an episode of the American television series ''Prison Break'' * "Orientation" (''Heroes''), a 2009 episode of American television series ''Heroes'' * Orientation (''Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.''), an episode of the American television series ''Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.''

Mathematics

Orientation (geometry) In geometry, the orientation, angular position, attitude, bearing, or direction of an object such as a line, plane or rigid body is part of the description of how it is placed in the space it occupies. More specifically, it refers to the imagin ...

, the direction in which a geometrical object is pointed *

Orientation (space) In mathematics, orientability is a property of some topological spaces such as real vector spaces, Euclidean spaces, Surface (topology), surfaces, and more generally manifolds that allows a consistent definition of "clockwise" and "counterclo ...

, the choice, in a space, between "clockwise" and "counterclockwise" **

Orientation (vector space) The orientation of a real vector space or simply orientation of a vector space is the arbitrary choice of which ordered bases are "positively" oriented and which are "negatively" oriented. In the three-dimensional Euclidean space, right-handed ...

, the specific case of linear algebra **

Orientability In mathematics, orientability is a property of some topological spaces such as real vector spaces, Euclidean spaces, surfaces, and more generally manifolds that allows a consistent definition of "clockwise" and "counterclockwise". A space is ...

, a property of a geometrical space which allows choosing an orientation, that is, distinguishing an object in the space from its mirror image ***

Orientation character In algebraic topology, a branch of mathematics, an ''orientation character'' on a group \pi is a group homomorphism :\omega\colon \pi \to \left\. This notion is of particular significance in surgery theory. Motivation Given a manifold ''M'', one ...

, a character of the fundamental group that "measures" the orientability of a manifold. **

Curve orientation In mathematics, an orientation of a curve is the choice of one of the two possible directions for travelling on the curve. For example, for Cartesian coordinates, the -axis is traditionally oriented toward the right, and the -axis is upward orie ...

, the choice of a direction for a point moving on a curve *

Orientation (graph theory) In graph theory, an orientation of an undirected graph is an assignment of a direction to each edge, turning the initial graph into a directed graph. Oriented graphs A directed graph is called an oriented graph if none of its pairs of vertices is ...

, an assignment of a direction (orientation) to each edge of an undirected graph

Other uses

Orientation (mental) Orientation is a function of the mind involving awareness of three dimensions: time, place and person. Problems with orientation lead to ''dis''orientation, and can be due to various conditions, from delirium to intoxication. Typically, disorienta ...

, a function of the mind *

Romantic orientation A person's romantic orientation, also called affectional orientation, is the classification of the sex or gender with which a person experiences romantic attraction towards or is likely to have a romantic relationship with. The term is used alo ...

, the sex or gender with which a person is most likely to have a romantic relationship or fall in love *

Sexual orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring pattern of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. These attractions are generall ...

, the direction of an individual's sexuality with respect to the sex of the persons the individual finds sexually attractive *

Student orientation Student orientation or new student orientation (often encapsulated into an orientation week, o-week, frosh week, welcome week or freshers' week) is a period before the start of an academic year at a university or tertiary institutions. A variety ...

, the first week of a university year in several countries