Concept
Differential form
Related concepts (51)
Interior product
In mathematics, the interior product (also known as interior derivative, interior multiplication, inner multiplication, inner derivative, insertion operator, or inner derivation) is a degree −1 (anti)derivation on the exterior algebra of differential forms on a smooth manifold. The interior product, named in opposition to the exterior product, should not be confused with an inner product. The interior product is sometimes written as The interior product is defined to be the contraction of a differential form with a vector field.
Antisymmetric tensor
In mathematics and theoretical physics, a tensor is antisymmetric on (or with respect to) an index subset if it alternates sign (+/−) when any two indices of the subset are interchanged. The index subset must generally either be all covariant or all contravariant. For example, holds when the tensor is antisymmetric with respect to its first three indices. If a tensor changes sign under exchange of each pair of its indices, then the tensor is completely (or totally) antisymmetric.
Total derivative
In 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.
Density on a manifold
In mathematics, and specifically differential geometry, a density is a spatially varying quantity on a differentiable manifold that can be integrated in an intrinsic manner. Abstractly, a density is a section of a certain line bundle, called the density bundle. An element of the density bundle at x is a function that assigns a volume for the parallelotope spanned by the n given tangent vectors at x. From the operational point of view, a density is a collection of functions on coordinate charts which become multiplied by the absolute value of the Jacobian determinant in the change of coordinates.
Multilinear form
In abstract algebra and multilinear algebra, a multilinear form on a vector space over a field is a map that is separately -linear in each of its arguments. More generally, one can define multilinear forms on a module over a commutative ring. The rest of this article, however, will only consider multilinear forms on finite-dimensional vector spaces. A multilinear -form on over is called a (covariant) -tensor, and the vector space of such forms is usually denoted or .
Chain (algebraic topology)
In algebraic topology, a -chain is a formal linear combination of the -cells in a cell complex. In simplicial complexes (respectively, cubical complexes), -chains are combinations of -simplices (respectively, -cubes), but not necessarily connected. Chains are used in homology; the elements of a homology group are equivalence classes of chains. For a simplicial complex , the group of -chains of is given by: where are singular -simplices of . Note that any element in not necessary to be a connected simplicial complex.
Green's theorem
In vector calculus, Green's theorem relates a line integral around a simple closed curve C to a double integral over the plane region D bounded by C. It is the two-dimensional special case of Stokes' theorem. Let C be a positively oriented, piecewise smooth, simple closed curve in a plane, and let D be the region bounded by C. If L and M are functions of (x, y) defined on an open region containing D and have continuous partial derivatives there, then where the path of integration along C is anticlockwise.
Alternating algebra
In mathematics, an alternating algebra is a Z-graded algebra for which xy = (−1)^deg(x)deg(y)yx for all nonzero homogeneous elements x and y (i.e. it is an anticommutative algebra) and has the further property that x2 = 0 for every homogeneous element x of odd degree. The differential forms on a differentiable manifold form an alternating algebra. The exterior algebra is an alternating algebra. The cohomology ring of a topological space is an alternating algebra.
Systolic geometry
In mathematics, systolic geometry is the study of systolic invariants of manifolds and polyhedra, as initially conceived by Charles Loewner and developed by Mikhail Gromov, Michael Freedman, Peter Sarnak, Mikhail Katz, Larry Guth, and others, in its arithmetical, ergodic, and topological manifestations. See also a slower-paced Introduction to systolic geometry. The systole of a compact metric space X is a metric invariant of X, defined to be the least length of a noncontractible loop in X (i.e.
Leibniz's notation
In calculus, Leibniz's notation, named in honor of the 17th-century German philosopher and mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, uses the symbols dx and dy to represent infinitely small (or infinitesimal) increments of x and y, respectively, just as Δx and Δy represent finite increments of x and y, respectively. Consider y as a function of a variable x, or y = f(x).