Total derivativeIn mathematics, the total derivative of a function f at a point is the best linear approximation near this point of the function with respect to its arguments. Unlike partial derivatives, the total derivative approximates the function with respect to all of its arguments, not just a single one. In many situations, this is the same as considering all partial derivatives simultaneously. The term "total derivative" is primarily used when f is a function of several variables, because when f is a function of a single variable, the total derivative is the same as the ordinary derivative of the function.
Critical valueCritical value may refer to: In differential topology, a critical value of a differentiable function ƒ : M → N between differentiable manifolds is the (value of) ƒ(x) in N of a critical point x in M. In statistical hypothesis testing, the critical values of a statistical test are the boundaries of the acceptance region of the test. The acceptance region is the set of values of the test statistic for which the null hypothesis is not rejected. Depending on the shape of the acceptance region, there can be one or more than one critical value.
Exotic sphereIn an area of mathematics called differential topology, an exotic sphere is a differentiable manifold M that is homeomorphic but not diffeomorphic to the standard Euclidean n-sphere. That is, M is a sphere from the point of view of all its topological properties, but carrying a smooth structure that is not the familiar one (hence the name "exotic"). The first exotic spheres were constructed by in dimension as -bundles over . He showed that there are at least 7 differentiable structures on the 7-sphere.
PseudogroupIn mathematics, a pseudogroup is a set of diffeomorphisms between open sets of a space, satisfying group-like and sheaf-like properties. It is a generalisation of the concept of a group, originating however from the geometric approach of Sophus Lie to investigate symmetries of differential equations, rather than out of abstract algebra (such as quasigroup, for example). The modern theory of pseudogroups was developed by Élie Cartan in the early 1900s.
4-manifoldIn mathematics, a 4-manifold is a 4-dimensional topological manifold. A smooth 4-manifold is a 4-manifold with a smooth structure. In dimension four, in marked contrast with lower dimensions, topological and smooth manifolds are quite different. There exist some topological 4-manifolds which admit no smooth structure, and even if there exists a smooth structure, it need not be unique (i.e. there are smooth 4-manifolds which are homeomorphic but not diffeomorphic).
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).
Jet (mathematics)In mathematics, the jet is an operation that takes a differentiable function f and produces a polynomial, the truncated Taylor polynomial of f, at each point of its domain. Although this is the definition of a jet, the theory of jets regards these polynomials as being abstract polynomials rather than polynomial functions. This article first explores the notion of a jet of a real valued function in one real variable, followed by a discussion of generalizations to several real variables.
Smooth structureIn mathematics, a smooth structure on a manifold allows for an unambiguous notion of smooth function. In particular, a smooth structure allows one to perform mathematical analysis on the manifold. A smooth structure on a manifold is a collection of smoothly equivalent smooth atlases. Here, a smooth atlas for a topological manifold is an atlas for such that each transition function is a smooth map, and two smooth atlases for are smoothly equivalent provided their union is again a smooth atlas for This gives a natural equivalence relation on the set of smooth atlases.
Pushforward (differential)In differential geometry, pushforward is a linear approximation of smooth maps on tangent spaces. Suppose that is a smooth map between smooth manifolds; then the differential of at a point , denoted , is, in some sense, the best linear approximation of near . It can be viewed as a generalization of the total derivative of ordinary calculus. Explicitly, the differential is a linear map from the tangent space of at to the tangent space of at , . Hence it can be used to push tangent vectors on forward to tangent vectors on .
Pullback bundleIn mathematics, a pullback bundle or induced bundle is the fiber bundle that is induced by a map of its base-space. Given a fiber bundle π : E → B and a continuous map f : B′ → B one can define a "pullback" of E by f as a bundle fE over B′. The fiber of fE over a point b′ in B′ is just the fiber of E over f(b′). Thus f*E is the disjoint union of all these fibers equipped with a suitable topology. Let π : E → B be a fiber bundle with abstract fiber F and let f : B′ → B be a continuous map.