Cartesian productIn mathematics, specifically set theory, the Cartesian product of two sets A and B, denoted A × B, is the set of all ordered pairs (a, b) where a is in A and b is in B. In terms of set-builder notation, that is A table can be created by taking the Cartesian product of a set of rows and a set of columns. If the Cartesian product rows × columns is taken, the cells of the table contain ordered pairs of the form (row value, column value).
Playfair's axiomIn geometry, Playfair's axiom is an axiom that can be used instead of the fifth postulate of Euclid (the parallel postulate): In a plane, given a line and a point not on it, at most one line parallel to the given line can be drawn through the point. It is equivalent to Euclid's parallel postulate in the context of Euclidean geometry and was named after the Scottish mathematician John Playfair. The "at most" clause is all that is needed since it can be proved from the remaining axioms that at least one parallel line exists.
Flat (geometry)In geometry, a flat or Euclidean subspace is a subset of a Euclidean space that is itself a Euclidean space (of lower dimension). The flats in two-dimensional space are points and lines, and the flats in three-dimensional space are points, lines, and planes. In a n-dimensional space, there are flats of every dimension from 0 to n − 1; flats of dimension n − 1 are called hyperplanes. Flats are the affine subspaces of Euclidean spaces, which means that they are similar to linear subspaces, except that they need not pass through the origin.
Stereographic projectionIn mathematics, a stereographic projection is a perspective projection of the sphere, through a specific point on the sphere (the pole or center of projection), onto a plane (the projection plane) perpendicular to the diameter through the point. It is a smooth, bijective function from the entire sphere except the center of projection to the entire plane. It maps circles on the sphere to circles or lines on the plane, and is conformal, meaning that it preserves angles at which curves meet and thus locally approximately preserves shapes.
CoplanarityIn geometry, a set of points in space are coplanar if there exists a geometric plane that contains them all. For example, three points are always coplanar, and if the points are distinct and non-collinear, the plane they determine is unique. However, a set of four or more distinct points will, in general, not lie in a single plane. Two lines in three-dimensional space are coplanar if there is a plane that includes them both. This occurs if the lines are parallel, or if they intersect each other.
Riemann sphereIn mathematics, the Riemann sphere, named after Bernhard Riemann, is a model of the extended complex plane: the complex plane plus one point at infinity. This extended plane represents the extended complex numbers, that is, the complex numbers plus a value for infinity. With the Riemann model, the point is near to very large numbers, just as the point is near to very small numbers. The extended complex numbers are useful in complex analysis because they allow for division by zero in some circumstances, in a way that makes expressions such as well-behaved.
SmoothnessIn mathematical analysis, the smoothness of a function is a property measured by the number of continuous derivatives it has over some domain, called differentiability class. At the very minimum, a function could be considered smooth if it is differentiable everywhere (hence continuous). At the other end, it might also possess derivatives of all orders in its domain, in which case it is said to be infinitely differentiable and referred to as a C-infinity function (or function).
Ambient space (mathematics)In mathematics, especially in geometry and topology, an ambient space is the space surrounding a mathematical object along with the object itself. For example, a 1-dimensional line may be studied in isolation —in which case the ambient space of is , or it may be studied as an object embedded in 2-dimensional Euclidean space —in which case the ambient space of is , or as an object embedded in 2-dimensional hyperbolic space —in which case the ambient space of is .
GeometryGeometry (; ) is a branch of mathematics concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. Geometry is, along with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is called a geometer. Until the 19th century, geometry was almost exclusively devoted to Euclidean geometry, which includes the notions of point, line, plane, distance, angle, surface, and curve, as fundamental concepts.
CurvatureIn mathematics, curvature is any of several strongly related concepts in geometry. Intuitively, the curvature is the amount by which a curve deviates from being a straight line, or a surface deviates from being a plane. For curves, the canonical example is that of a circle, which has a curvature equal to the reciprocal of its radius. Smaller circles bend more sharply, and hence have higher curvature. The curvature at a point of a differentiable curve is the curvature of its osculating circle, that is the circle that best approximates the curve near this point.