Inversion or inversions may refer to:

Arts

* ''Inversion'' (artwork), a 2005 temporary sculpture in Houston, Texas * Inversion (music), a term with various meanings in music theory and musical set theory * ''Inversions'' (novel) by Iain M. Banks * ''Inversion'' (video game), a 2012 third person shooter for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC * ''Inversions'' (EP), the 2014 extended play album by American rock music ensemble The Colourist * ''Inversions'' (album), a 2019 album by Belinda O'Hooley * ''Inversion'' (film), a 2016 Iranian film

Linguistics and language

Inversion (linguistics) In linguistics, inversion is any of several grammatical constructions where two expressions switch their typical or expected order of appearance, that is, they invert. There are several types of subject-verb inversion in English: ''locative inver ...

, grammatical constructions where two expressions switch their order of appearance * Inversion (prosody), the reversal of the order of a foot's elements in poetry * Anastrophe, a figure of speech also known as an ''inversion''

Mathematics and logic

Additive inverse In mathematics, the additive inverse of an element , denoted , is the element that when added to , yields the additive identity, 0 (zero). In the most familiar cases, this is the number 0, but it can also refer to a more generalized zero el ...

Involution (mathematics) In mathematics, an involution, involutory function, or self-inverse function is a function that is its own inverse, : for all in the domain of . Equivalently, applying twice produces the original value. General properties Any involution ...

, a function that is its own inverse (when applied twice, the starting value is obtained) * Inversion (discrete mathematics), any item that is out of order in a sequence *

Inverse element In mathematics, the concept of an inverse element generalises the concepts of opposite () and reciprocal () of numbers. Given an operation denoted here , and an identity element denoted , if , one says that is a left inverse of , and that ...

Inverse function In mathematics, the inverse function of a function (also called the inverse of ) is a function that undoes the operation of . The inverse of exists if and only if is bijective, and if it exists, is denoted by f^ . For a function f\colon ...

, a function that undoes the operation of another function. * Inversive geometry#Circle inversion, a transformation of the Euclidean plane that maps generalized circles to generalized circles * Inversion in a point, or point reflection, a kind of isometric (distance-preserving) transformation in a Euclidean space * Inversion transformation, a conformal transformation (one which preserves angles of intersection) * Method of inversion, the image of a harmonic function in a sphere (or plane); see Method of image charges *

Multiplicative inverse In mathematics, a multiplicative inverse or reciprocal for a number ''x'', denoted by 1/''x'' or ''x''−1, is a number which when Multiplication, multiplied by ''x'' yields the multiplicative identity, 1. The multiplicative inverse of a ra ...

, the reciprocal of a number (or any other type of element for which a multiplication function is defined) * Matrix inversion, an operation on a matrix that results in its multiplicative inverse * Model inversion * Set inversion

Natural sciences

Biology and medicine

Inversion (evolutionary biology) In evolutionary developmental biology, inversion refers to the hypothesis that during the course of animal evolution, the structures along the anatomical terms of location, dorsoventral (DV) axis have taken on an orientation opposite that of the an ...

, a hypothesis about the evolution of the dorsoventral axis in animals * Inversion (kinesiology), movement of the sole towards the median plane * Chromosomal inversion, where a segment of a chromosome is reversed end-to-end * Inversion therapy, the practice of hanging upside down (heart higher than head) for supposed health benefits

Geology

* Inversion (geology), the relative uplift of a previously basinal area resulting from local shortening, in structural geology * Quartz inversion, a change in the crystal structure of quartz at high temperatures * Relief inversion, when a previous depression becomes a landform that stands out from its surroundings *

Seismic inversion In geophysics (primarily in oil-and-gas exploration/development), seismic inversion is the process of transforming seismic reflection data into a quantitative rock-property description of a reservoir. Seismic inversion may be pre- or post- stack, ...

, transforming seismic reflection data into a quantitative rock-property description of a geological formation

Physics and chemistry

* Island of inversion, a group of elements with abnormal nuclear shell structure * Nitrogen inversion, a chemical process in which a trigonal nitrogen-containing structure turns inside-out * Population inversion, in statistical mechanics, when a system exists in state with more members in an excited state than in lower-energy states * Pyramidal inversion, a chemical process in which a trigonal structure turns inside-out * Inverted sugar syrup, a chemical reaction converting sucrose into glucose and fructose

Other uses in the natural sciences

Inverse problem An inverse problem in science is the process of calculating from a set of observations the causal factors that produced them: for example, calculating an image in X-ray computed tomography, sound source reconstruction, source reconstruction in ac ...

, the process of calculating from a set of observations the causal factors that produced them *

Inversion (meteorology) In meteorology, an inversion (or temperature inversion) is a phenomenon in which a layer of warmer air overlies cooler air. Normally, atmospheric temperature, air temperature gradually decreases as altitude increases, but this relationship ...

, air temperature increasing with height

Other uses

* Priority inversion, the condition of a low-priority task holding a shared resource that a high-priority task needs * Inversion in postcolonial theory, a discursive strategy/gesture in cultural and subaltern studies *

Roller coaster inversion A roller coaster inversion is a roller coaster element in which the track turns riders upside-down and then returns them to an upright position. Early forms of inversions were circular in nature and date back to 1848 on the Centrifugal railway in ...

, which turns riders upside-down *

Tax inversion A tax inversion or corporate tax inversion is a form of tax avoidance where a corporation restructures so that the current parent is replaced by a foreign parent, and the original parent company becomes a subsidiary of the foreign parent, thus mov ...

, a form of tax avoidance by moving corporate ownership to low-tax nations