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).
Support (mathematics)In mathematics, the support of a real-valued function is the subset of the function domain containing the elements which are not mapped to zero. If the domain of is a topological space, then the support of is instead defined as the smallest closed set containing all points not mapped to zero. This concept is used very widely in mathematical analysis. Suppose that is a real-valued function whose domain is an arbitrary set The of written is the set of points in where is non-zero: The support of is the smallest subset of with the property that is zero on the subset's complement.
Differentiable manifoldIn mathematics, a differentiable manifold (also differential manifold) is a type of manifold that is locally similar enough to a vector space to allow one to apply calculus. Any manifold can be described by a collection of charts (atlas). One may then apply ideas from calculus while working within the individual charts, since each chart lies within a vector space to which the usual rules of calculus apply. If the charts are suitably compatible (namely, the transition from one chart to another is differentiable), then computations done in one chart are valid in any other differentiable chart.
Sheaf (mathematics)In mathematics, a sheaf (: sheaves) is a tool for systematically tracking data (such as sets, abelian groups, rings) attached to the open sets of a topological space and defined locally with regard to them. For example, for each open set, the data could be the ring of continuous functions defined on that open set. Such data is well behaved in that it can be restricted to smaller open sets, and also the data assigned to an open set is equivalent to all collections of compatible data assigned to collections of smaller open sets covering the original open set (intuitively, every piece of data is the sum of its parts).
Distribution (mathematics)Distributions, also known as Schwartz distributions or generalized functions, are objects that generalize the classical notion of functions in mathematical analysis. Distributions make it possible to differentiate functions whose derivatives do not exist in the classical sense. In particular, any locally integrable function has a distributional derivative. Distributions are widely used in the theory of partial differential equations, where it may be easier to establish the existence of distributional solutions (weak solutions) than classical solutions, or where appropriate classical solutions may not exist.
Riemannian manifoldIn differential geometry, a Riemannian manifold or Riemannian space (M, g), so called after the German mathematician Bernhard Riemann, is a real, smooth manifold M equipped with a positive-definite inner product gp on the tangent space TpM at each point p. The family gp of inner products is called a Riemannian metric (or Riemannian metric tensor). Riemannian geometry is the study of Riemannian manifolds. A common convention is to take g to be smooth, which means that for any smooth coordinate chart (U, x) on M, the n2 functions are smooth functions.
Bump functionIn mathematics, a bump function (also called a test function) is a function on a Euclidean space which is both smooth (in the sense of having continuous derivatives of all orders) and compactly supported. The set of all bump functions with domain forms a vector space, denoted or The dual space of this space endowed with a suitable topology is the space of distributions. The function given by is an example of a bump function in one dimension.
Paracompact spaceIn mathematics, a paracompact space is a topological space in which every open cover has an open refinement that is locally finite. These spaces were introduced by . Every compact space is paracompact. Every paracompact Hausdorff space is normal, and a Hausdorff space is paracompact if and only if it admits partitions of unity subordinate to any open cover. Sometimes paracompact spaces are defined so as to always be Hausdorff. Every closed subspace of a paracompact space is paracompact.
