surface A surface, as the term is most generally used, is the outermost or uppermost layer of a physical object or space. It is the portion or region of the object that can first be perceived by an observer using the senses of sight and touch, and is t ...

, as the term is most generally used, is the outermost or uppermost layer of a physical object or space. Surface or surfaces may also refer to:

Mathematics

Surface (mathematics) In mathematics, a surface is a mathematical model of the common concept of a surface. It is a generalization of a plane, but, unlike a plane, it may be curved; this is analogous to a curve generalizing a straight line. There are several more p ...

, a generalization of a plane which needs not be flat *

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: ...

, a differentiable two-dimensional manifold *

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 solids; for example, the sphere is the boundary of the solid ball. Other surfaces arise as ...

, a two-dimensional manifold *

Algebraic surface In mathematics, an algebraic surface is an algebraic variety of dimension two. In the case of geometry over the field of complex numbers, an algebraic surface has complex dimension two (as a complex manifold, when it is non-singular) and so of di ...

, an algebraic variety of dimension two *

Coordinate surfaces In geometry, a coordinate system is a system that uses one or more numbers, or coordinates, to uniquely determine the position of the points or other geometric elements on a manifold such as Euclidean space. The order of the coordinates is sign ...

Fractal surface A fractal landscape is a surface that is generated using a stochastic algorithm designed to produce fractal behavior that mimics the appearance of natural terrain. In other words, the result of the procedure is not a deterministic fractal surface, ...

, generated using a stochastic algorithm *

Polyhedral surface In geometry, a polyhedron (plural polyhedra or polyhedrons; ) is a three-dimensional shape with flat polygonal faces, straight edges and sharp corners or vertices. A convex polyhedron is the convex hull of finitely many points, not all on th ...

Surface area The surface area of a solid object is a measure of the total area that the surface of the object occupies. The mathematical definition of surface area in the presence of curved surfaces is considerably more involved than the definition of arc ...

Surface integral In mathematics, particularly multivariable calculus, a surface integral is a generalization of multiple integrals to integration over surfaces. It can be thought of as the double integral analogue of the line integral. Given a surface, one may ...

Arts and entertainment

Surface (band) Surface was an American music group from New Jersey, active from 1983 to 1994. They are best known for their No. 1 pop and R&B hit " The First Time". During its heyday, the group consisted of singer/bassist Bernard Jackson (born July 11, 1959), D ...

, an American R&B and pop trio ** ''Surface'' (Surface album), 1986 *

Surfaces (band) Surfaces is an American music group based in College Station, Texas. It currently consists of vocalists/guitarists Forrest Frank and Colin Padalecki. Their music is a blend of jazz, soul, pop, hip hop, reggae, and calypso. They have released fou ...

, American musical duo * ''Surface'' (Circle album), 1998 * "Surface" (Aero Chord song), 2014 * ''Surface'' (2005 TV series), an American science fiction show, 2005–2006 * ''Surface'' (2022 TV series), an American psychological thriller miniseries that began streaming in 2022 *''

The Surface ''The Surface'' is a 2014 American drama thriller film directed by Gil Cates Jr. and starring Sean Astin, Mimi Rogers, Chris Mulkey, and Jeff Gendelman. Gendelman also served as the films writer and producer. Plot Mitch takes his late father� ...

'', an American film, 2014 *"Surface", a song by Your Memorial from the 2010 album ''

Atonement Atonement (also atoning, to atone) is the concept of a person taking action to correct previous wrongdoing on their part, either through direct action to undo the consequences of that act, equivalent action to do good for others, or some other ex ...

Physical sciences

Surface finishing Surface finishing is a broad range of industrial processes that alter the surface of a manufactured item to achieve a certain property. Finishing processes may be employed to: improve appearance, adhesion or wettability, solderability, corrosion re ...

, a range of industrial processes that alter the surface of a manufactured item to achieve a certain property *

Surface science Surface science is the study of physical and chemical phenomena that occur at the interface of two phases, including solid–liquid interfaces, solid–gas interfaces, solid–vacuum interfaces, and liquid–gas interfaces. It includes the fiel ...

, the study of physical and chemical phenomena that occur at the interface of two phases *

Surface wave In physics, a surface wave is a mechanical wave that propagates along the Interface (chemistry), interface between differing media. A common example is gravity waves along the surface of liquids, such as ocean waves. Gravity waves can also occu ...

, a mechanical wave, in physics *

Interface (matter) In the physical sciences, an interface is the boundary between two spatial regions occupied by different matter, or by matter in different physical states. The interface between matter and air, or matter and vacuum, is called a surface, and studied ...

, common boundary among two different phases of matter *

Planetary surface A planetary surface is where the solid or liquid material of certain types of astronomical objects contacts the atmosphere or outer space. Planetary surfaces are found on solid objects of planetary mass, including terrestrial planets (including ...

Surface of the Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surface ...

***

Sea surface The sea, connected as the world ocean or simply the ocean, is the body of salty water that covers approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. The word sea is also used to denote second-order sections of the sea, such as the Mediterranean Sea, ...

Transportation

Surface mail Surface mail, also known as sea mail, is mail that is transported by land and sea (along the ''surface'' of the earth), rather than by air, as in airmail. Surface mail is significantly less expensive but slower than airmail, and thus is preferred ...

, transportation of mail that travel on land and sea but not air *

Surface transport Road transport or road transportation is a type of transport using roads. Transport on roads can be roughly grouped into the transportation of goods and transportation of people. In many countries licensing requirements and safety regulations e ...

, transportation of goods and people on land and sea

People

* Harvey A. Surface (1867–1941), American zoologist and Pennsylvania legislator *

Mary Hall Surface Mary Hall Surface (born June 15, 1958) is an American playwright and director of theater, working primarily in the Washington, D.C. area. Surface's work has focused primarily on youth and family content. Surface has received accolades from critic ...

(born 1958), American playwright and theater director

Technology

Microsoft Surface Microsoft Surface is a series of touchscreen-based personal computers, tablets and interactive whiteboards designed and developed by Microsoft, running the Microsoft Windows operating system, apart from the Surface Duo, which runs on Android ...

, the brand for a line of computers and related accessories by Microsoft *

Microsoft PixelSense Microsoft PixelSense (formerly called Microsoft Surface) was an interactive surface computing platform that allowed one or more people to use and touch real-world objects, and share digital content at the same time. The PixelSense platform consist ...

(formerly known as Surface), a commercial computing platform *

Computer representation of surfaces In technical applications of 3D computer graphics ( CAx) such as computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing, surfaces are one way of representing objects. The other ways are wireframe (lines and curves) and solids. Point clouds ...

, a way of representing objects, in technical applications of 3D computer graphics *

Deep structure and surface structure Deep structure and surface structure (also D-structure and S-structure although those abbreviated forms are sometimes used with distinct meanings) are concepts used in linguistics, specifically in the study of syntax in the Chomskyan tradition of t ...

, concepts in Chomskyan linguistics

Publications

* ''Surface'' (magazine), an American architecture magazine since 1993 * ''Surfaces'' (Université de Montréal journal), published from 1991 to 1999 * ''Surfaces'' (MDPI journal), published from 2018 onwards * ''Surface Science'' (journal)