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Empty Sum
In mathematics, an empty sum, or nullary sum, is a summation where the number of terms is zero. The natural way to extend non-empty sums is to let the empty sum be the additive identity. Let a_1, a_2, a_3, ... be a sequence of numbers, and let :s_m = \sum_^m a_i = a_1 + \cdots + a_m be the sum of the first ''m'' terms of the sequence. This satisfies the recurrence :s_m = s_ + a_m provided that we use the following natural convention: s_0=0. In other words, a "sum" s_1 with only one term evaluates to that one term, while a "sum" s_0 with no terms evaluates to 0. Allowing a "sum" with only 1 or 0 terms reduces the number of cases to be considered in many mathematical formulas. Such "sums" are natural starting points in induction proofs, as well as in algorithms. For these reasons, the "empty sum is zero" extension is standard practice in mathematics and computer programming (assuming the domain has a zero element). For the same reason, the empty product is taken to be the multip ... [...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] |
Polynomial
In mathematics, a polynomial is a Expression (mathematics), mathematical expression consisting of indeterminate (variable), indeterminates (also called variable (mathematics), variables) and coefficients, that involves only the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and exponentiation to nonnegative integer powers, and has a finite number of terms. An example of a polynomial of a single indeterminate is . An example with three indeterminates is . Polynomials appear in many areas of mathematics and science. For example, they are used to form polynomial equations, which encode a wide range of problems, from elementary word problem (mathematics education), word problems to complicated scientific problems; they are used to define polynomial functions, which appear in settings ranging from basic chemistry and physics to economics and social science; and they are used in calculus and numerical analysis to approximate other functions. In advanced mathematics, polynomials are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Empty Function
In mathematics, a function from a set to a set assigns to each element of exactly one element of .; the words ''map'', ''mapping'', ''transformation'', ''correspondence'', and ''operator'' are sometimes used synonymously. The set is called the domain of the function and the set is called the codomain of the function. Functions were originally the idealization of how a varying quantity depends on another quantity. For example, the position of a planet is a ''function'' of time. Historically, the concept was elaborated with the infinitesimal calculus at the end of the 17th century, and, until the 19th century, the functions that were considered were differentiable (that is, they had a high degree of regularity). The concept of a function was formalized at the end of the 19th century in terms of set theory, and this greatly increased the possible applications of the concept. A function is often denoted by a letter such as , or . The value of a function at an element of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iterated Binary Operation
In mathematics, an iterated binary operation is an extension of a binary operation on a set ''S'' to a function on finite sequences of elements of ''S'' through repeated application. Common examples include the extension of the addition operation to the summation operation, and the extension of the multiplication operation to the product operation. Other operations, e.g., the set-theoretic operations union and intersection, are also often iterated, but the iterations are not given separate names. In print, summation and product are represented by special symbols; but other iterated operators often are denoted by larger variants of the symbol for the ordinary binary operator. Thus, the iterations of the four operations mentioned above are denoted :\sum,\ \prod,\ \bigcup, and \bigcap, respectively. More generally, iteration of a binary function is generally denoted by a slash: iteration of f over the sequence (a_, a_ \ldots, a_) is denoted by f / (a_, a_ \ldots, a_), following t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Empty Product
In mathematics, an empty product, or nullary product or vacuous product, is the result of multiplication, multiplying no factors. It is by convention equal to the multiplicative identity (assuming there is an identity for the multiplication operation in question), just as the empty sum—the result of addition, adding no numbers—is by convention 0, zero, or the additive identity. When numbers are implied, the empty product becomes 1, one. The term ''empty product'' is most often used in the above sense when discussing arithmetic operations. However, the term is sometimes employed when discussing Set theory, set-theoretic intersections, categorical products, and products in computer programming. Nullary arithmetic product Definition Let ''a''1, ''a''2, ''a''3, ... be a sequence of numbers, and let :P_m = \prod_^m a_i = a_1 \cdots a_m be the product of the first ''m'' elements of the sequence. Then :P_m = P_ a_m for all ''m'' = 1, 2, ... provided that we use the c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Empty Set
In mathematics, the empty set or void set is the unique Set (mathematics), set having no Element (mathematics), elements; its size or cardinality (count of elements in a set) is 0, zero. Some axiomatic set theories ensure that the empty set exists by including an axiom of empty set, while in other theories, its existence can be deduced. Many possible properties of sets are vacuously true for the empty set. Any set other than the empty set is called ''non-empty''. In some textbooks and popularizations, the empty set is referred to as the "null set". However, null set is a distinct notion within the context of measure theory, in which it describes a set of measure zero (which is not necessarily empty). Notation Common notations for the empty set include "", "\emptyset", and "∅". The latter two symbols were introduced by the Bourbaki group (specifically André Weil) in 1939, inspired by the letter Ø () in the Danish orthography, Danish and Norwegian orthography, Norwegian a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Linear Combination
In mathematics, a linear combination or superposition is an Expression (mathematics), expression constructed from a Set (mathematics), set of terms by multiplying each term by a constant and adding the results (e.g. a linear combination of ''x'' and ''y'' would be any expression of the form ''ax'' + ''by'', where ''a'' and ''b'' are constants). The concept of linear combinations is central to linear algebra and related fields of mathematics. Most of this article deals with linear combinations in the context of a vector space over a field (mathematics), field, with some generalizations given at the end of the article. Definition Let ''V'' be a vector space over the field ''K''. As usual, we call elements of ''V'' ''vector space, vectors'' and call elements of ''K'' ''scalar (mathematics), scalars''. If v1,...,v''n'' are vectors and ''a''1,...,''a''''n'' are scalars, then the ''linear combination of those vectors with those scalars as coefficients'' is :a_1 \mathbf v_1 + a_2 \mathbf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Linear Algebra
Linear algebra is the branch of mathematics concerning linear equations such as :a_1x_1+\cdots +a_nx_n=b, linear maps such as :(x_1, \ldots, x_n) \mapsto a_1x_1+\cdots +a_nx_n, and their representations in vector spaces and through matrix (mathematics), matrices. Linear algebra is central to almost all areas of mathematics. For instance, linear algebra is fundamental in modern presentations of geometry, including for defining basic objects such as line (geometry), lines, plane (geometry), planes and rotation (mathematics), rotations. Also, functional analysis, a branch of mathematical analysis, may be viewed as the application of linear algebra to Space of functions, function spaces. Linear algebra is also used in most sciences and fields of engineering because it allows mathematical model, modeling many natural phenomena, and computing efficiently with such models. For nonlinear systems, which cannot be modeled with linear algebra, it is often used for dealing with first-order a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matrix (mathematics)
In mathematics, a matrix (: matrices) is a rectangle, rectangular array or table of numbers, symbol (formal), symbols, or expression (mathematics), expressions, with elements or entries arranged in rows and columns, which is used to represent a mathematical object or property of such an object. For example, \begin1 & 9 & -13 \\20 & 5 & -6 \end is a matrix with two rows and three columns. This is often referred to as a "two-by-three matrix", a " matrix", or a matrix of dimension . Matrices are commonly used in linear algebra, where they represent linear maps. In geometry, matrices are widely used for specifying and representing geometric transformations (for example rotation (mathematics), rotations) and coordinate changes. In numerical analysis, many computational problems are solved by reducing them to a matrix computation, and this often involves computing with matrices of huge dimensions. Matrices are used in most areas of mathematics and scientific fields, either directly ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Summation
In mathematics, summation is the addition of a sequence of numbers, called ''addends'' or ''summands''; the result is their ''sum'' or ''total''. Beside numbers, other types of values can be summed as well: functions, vectors, matrices, polynomials and, in general, elements of any type of mathematical objects on which an operation denoted "+" is defined. Summations of infinite sequences are called series. They involve the concept of limit, and are not considered in this article. The summation of an explicit sequence is denoted as a succession of additions. For example, summation of is denoted , and results in 9, that is, . Because addition is associative and commutative, there is no need for parentheses, and the result is the same irrespective of the order of the summands. Summation of a sequence of only one summand results in the summand itself. Summation of an empty sequence (a sequence with no elements), by convention, results in 0. Very often, the elements of a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vector (mathematics)
In mathematics and physics, vector is a term that refers to quantities that cannot be expressed by a single number (a scalar), or to elements of some vector spaces. Historically, vectors were introduced in geometry and physics (typically in mechanics) for quantities that have both a magnitude and a direction, such as displacements, forces and velocity. Such quantities are represented by geometric vectors in the same way as distances, masses and time are represented by real numbers. The term ''vector'' is also used, in some contexts, for tuples, which are finite sequences (of numbers or other objects) of a fixed length. Both geometric vectors and tuples can be added and scaled, and these vector operations led to the concept of a vector space, which is a set equipped with a vector addition and a scalar multiplication that satisfy some axioms generalizing the main properties of operations on the above sorts of vectors. A vector space formed by geometric vectors is called a Euc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Multiplicative Identity
In mathematics, an identity element or neutral element of a binary operation is an element that leaves unchanged every element when the operation is applied. For example, 0 is an identity element of the addition of real numbers. This concept is used in algebraic structures such as groups and rings. The term ''identity element'' is often shortened to ''identity'' (as in the case of additive identity and multiplicative identity) when there is no possibility of confusion, but the identity implicitly depends on the binary operation it is associated with. Definitions Let be a set equipped with a binary operation ∗. Then an element of is called a if for all in , and a if for all in . If is both a left identity and a right identity, then it is called a , or simply an . An identity with respect to addition is called an (often denoted as 0) and an identity with respect to multiplication is called a (often denoted as 1). The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
