Conditional entropy Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
For finite discrete random variables, conditional entropy is the average remaining information entropy of after the value of is known:
Each observation changes the probability distribution used to describe ; the average weights that uncertainty by how often the observation occurs. An observation can increase uncertainty for one particular outcome, even though conditioning reduces entropy on average for finite variables.
For example, let choose with probabilities , and let report whether . If it reports yes, there is no remaining uncertainty. Otherwise the conditional probabilities are , whose information entropy is bits. The two reports each occur with probability , so of a bit. The original uncertainty was bits: this observation removes exactly one bit on average.
If is a function of , then : the observation determines the answer. If and are independent random variables, then : the observation gives no improvement. These endpoints make conditional entropy useful for separating relevant observations from irrelevant ones. They also lead to the chain rule for information entropy, , which counts the first uncertainty and the remaining uncertainty without double counting.
Alphabet Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
An alphabet is a finite nonempty set of symbols from which strings or source outputs are formed.
Particle in a rectangular box Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Dirichlet separation in a rectangular box gives products of sine waves and energy proportional to .
The infinite square well supplies the one-dimensional factors of this rectangular-box construction.
Divergence-free vector field Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
A divergence-free vector field satisfies . It preserves volume under its flow, and its transport operator is skew-symmetric when boundary fluxes vanish.
Endpoint expansion of the incomplete gamma function Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
When with , the integral is dominated by its lower endpoint. Setting and applying Watson's lemma gives coefficients rational in .
Fixed-lower-limit incomplete gamma asymptotic Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
For fixed finite and , the omitted integral from zero to is negligible, so and Stirling's formula applies.
Asymptotic expansion by repeated integration by parts Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-20
Repeated integration by parts generates successive inverse powers of a large endpoint, with a remainder expressed by the same integral with shifted parameters.
Interaction Hamiltonian Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
The interaction Hamiltonian generates interaction-picture time evolution. To leading order for many cubic field interactions it is the negative of the cubic interaction Lagrangian, although derivative interactions require the canonical Legendre transform to justify this relation.
Hydrostatic equilibrium Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
A static fluid in a uniform downward gravitational field obeys .
Barometric formula Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-28
For constant gravitational acceleration and temperature,
Hyperbolic law of sines Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
For a hyperbolic triangle, .
Hyperbolic triangle Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
A hyperbolic triangle is bounded by three hyperbolic geodesics and may have vertices on the ideal boundary.
Lambert quadrilateral Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
A Lambert quadrilateral is a hyperbolic quadrilateral with three right angles. If its remaining angle is and the two sides incident with that angle have lengths , then
Hyperboloid model Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
The hyperboloid model of the curvature-minus-one hyperbolic plane is
Its metric is the restriction of the Minkowski bilinear form to tangent planes, and its geodesics are intersections with two-dimensional linear subspaces through the origin.
Cayley transform (hyperbolic geometry) Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
The map is an isometry from the Poincare disc to the upper half-plane.
Poincaré half-plane model Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Hyperbolic plane Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-28
The hyperbolic plane is the simply connected two-dimensional geometry of constant curvature minus one.
Linearization stability theorem Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-31
If every Jacobian eigenvalue has negative real part, the equilibrium is locally asymptotically stable.
More generally, if the equilibrium is hyperbolic, the Hartman-Grobman theorem transfers the local attracting, repelling or saddle behavior of the linearized vector field to the nonlinear flow. Two real eigenvalues with opposite signs give a saddle equilibrium; all real parts positive give a source. Purely imaginary or zero eigenvalues require a separate nonlinear analysis. Merely having distinct eigenvalues does not remove this exception.
First excited hydrogen eigenspace Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
The eigenspace has basis
Electric-dipole selection rules for hydrogen Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
For the component of position,
requires and . The first condition follows from ; the second follows from the vector-operator angular-momentum relation together with odd parity.

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