Adler trace 2026-10-14
Integrate the formal pseudodifferential residue over a period, or over the real line when the integral converges and the relevant boundary terms vanish. More algebraically, apply a linear functional on the coefficient algebra that annihilates derivatives. For , and , the two residues are and . Since , integration by parts proves . For both residues vanish. Bounded orders ensure only finitely many monomial pairs contribute to the residue of a product.
Algebraic notation 2026-10-18
Algebraic notation represents variables, coefficients and algebraic operations by written symbols, so one expression can describe a family of equations.
Aliasing of discrete Fourier modes 2026-10-14
For integers , adding to a frequency index changes the complex exponential by . Thus different continuous Fourier modes become identical discrete Fourier modes on the sampling grid. This is aliasing, caused by sampling before any discrete Fourier transform is computed.
For , compare the continuous functions and with and , sampled at , . With , both cosines give exactly the first row and both sines give exactly the second:The nine-cycle sine agrees in sign as well as magnitude with the one-cycle sine: the frequency indices differ by , rather than by a sign reversal. Consequently, either cosine produces the same discrete Fourier transform, with all other coefficients zero; either sine produces , , with all other coefficients zero.
One-cycle and nine-cycle cosine and sine waves have exactly the same eight samples
. Details. An observed low frequency therefore does not establish that physical high frequencies are absent. To exclude such alternatives, the Nyquist–Shannon sampling theorem requires a specified class of bandlimited functions. For arbitrary pure sinusoids with frequencies at most , choose sampling rate ; equality needs care because vanishes at every . The finite-energy L2 space version of the Nyquist–Shannon sampling theorem permits equality under its own hypotheses. In either case, exact continuous reconstruction generally requires the entire infinite sample sequence; eight observed samples alone do not supply it. Demanet derives the grid aliasing condition as a difference by an integer multiple of the sampling angular frequency.[ref]
https://math.mit.edu/icg/resources/teaching/18.330/18.330-Mar21.pdf. Laurent Demanet, MIT 18.330 notes, §6.2, Definition 11, p. 57: aliases on a grid, 2012
Asymptotic power series Created 2026-10-13 Updated 2026-10-14
An asymptotic power series uses powers as its asymptotic sequence. Near a finite point , the condition in the title applies along the specified domain for every fixed ; at infinity, inverse powers are convenient. It need not be a convergent power series. Its coefficients record the successive limiting responses, as the integral example below demonstrates.
The finite-order Taylor theorem supplies an asymptotic power series for a smooth function near a point, but smoothness does not imply that its Taylor series converges to the function. Define for and for . Every right-hand derivative is an exponential function times a polynomial in , tending to zero as . Consequently is a smooth function with every derivative zero at the origin. Its all-zero Taylor series misses to the right. Zero and also have the same all-zero asymptotic power series on that side, despite being different functions. An asymptotic expansion can determine all its own coefficients without determining the represented function uniquely.
Asymptotic sequence Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
An asymptotic sequence orders the scales against which successive errors are compared. On a specified domain approaching , suppose each is nonzero sufficiently close to the limit andEquivalently, in little o notation. The notationmeans that for every ,Each stays fixed while the parameter tends to its limit.[ref]
2.1 Definitions and Elementary Properties. NIST Digital Library of Mathematical Functions, §2.1(v), generalized asymptotic scales and expansions
As , is an asymptotic sequence, because each adjacent ratio is . Fractional scales work too, with ratio . By contrast, fails at its first pair: the second scale is not smaller than the first. Ordering by written position alone does not create a hierarchy of sizes.
Successive division of the remainder by uniquely recovers every coefficient:If two proposed expansions first differ at order , subtracting them and dividing by would give a nonzero constant tending to zero, a contradiction. This is uniqueness of the coefficients in a fixed scale, not uniqueness of the represented function.
For the factorial integral example, the first three limiting responses are , , and . They extract exactly the coefficients . Choosing an asymptotic sequence therefore turns “the next small correction” into a precise and reusable operation.
Basis Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
A basis is a linearly independent spanning set of vectors in a vector space. Every vector is a unique finite linear combination of basis vectors. Independence supplies uniqueness, and spanning supplies existence. An ordered basis turns the coefficients into a coordinate vector.
For , the matrix with these vectors as columns isHence the coordinate vector of is , and recovers the usual coordinates. The determinant is nonzero, so this recovery works for every vector in . A basis need not have perpendicular or unit-length vectors; an orthonormal basis adds those geometric conveniences when an inner product is available.
The point of changing basis is to simplify the operation being studied. Diagonalization uses an eigenbasis to turn a coupled linear map into independent scalings. In a space of polynomials, the basis makes differentiation easy to encode, while orthogonal polynomials can make approximation errors easier to measure. Gilbert Strang's MIT lecture on independence, basis and dimension develops this connection between attainable columns, redundant columns and coordinates.[ref]
https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/18-06sc-linear-algebra-fall-2011/. Strang, MIT 18.06SC, Independence, Basis and Dimension
Bernoulli number Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-13
The Bernoulli numbers are a sequence of rational numbers that turns integer power sums into exact polynomials. The same numbers describe corrections when a discrete summation is compared with an integral. For example, the sum of squares is : the leading term is an integral, while the last two terms repair the difference between area and sampled values.
We use throughout. The defining exponential generating function isHere is the exponential function and is a factorial; in particular, the coefficient of is , rather than . At the quotient has limiting value one. The identity can be read algebraically as a formal power series, or as a convergent series for .[ref]
NIST Digital Library of Mathematical Functions. Karl Dilcher, Chapter 24, §24.2(i), equation 24.2.1: defining generating function and convergence domain
To compute the numbers, multiply by and compare coefficients. The resulting recurrence relation, with binomial coefficients, isThus , , and give , , and . Continuing givesThe recurrence relation agrees with equation 24.5.3 after replacing its index by .[ref]
NIST Digital Library of Mathematical Functions. Karl Dilcher, Chapter 24, §24.5(i), equation 24.5.3; first values also in Table 24.2.1
Why do so many values vanish? Put . Direct substitution gives , so is an even function. Its odd power series coefficients vanish: for every positive integer . The exception matters. The alternative convention obtained from has and exactly the same other values. A formula copied between conventions must also retain its summation endpoints.
Historically, integer power sums were studied before the modern Bernoulli number notation. A historical study examines formulas published in 1631 and distinguishes those separate formulas from encoding all exponents using one sequence of constants. This is a useful motivation for the generating function, without assigning all discovery to a single moment. [ref]
Johann Faulhaber and sums of powers by Donald E. Knuth. Donald E. Knuth, Johann Faulhaber and sums of powers, 1992 preprint, pp. 2 and 14: the 1631 power-sum formulas and the uniform Bernoulli-number formula
Bernstein polynomial degree preservation 2026-10-14
For with a binomial distribution of parameters , the Bernstein image of a monomial is . Expand in the monic falling factorial basis. Since , the leading coefficient becomes , which is nonzero for . Thus an actual degree- polynomial retains its degree, even though its lower coefficients generally change.
Bivector Created 2026-10-14 Updated 2026-10-14
A bivector is an element of the second exterior power . A simple bivector is one exterior product ; in real Euclidean space, it records the oriented area generated by those two vectors. A general bivector is a sum of such elements and need not describe just one plane. Covariant counterparts are differential two-forms, which take two vectors as inputs rather than belonging to .
In , chooseExpanding by bilinearity givesThe three coefficients are signed areas of the projections onto the , , and coordinate planes. They are three components of one bivector, not the three coordinates of either input vector.
With the usual dot product and a fixed orientation of a vector space, the cross product represents this area element by the normal vector . The order of the components matters: corresponds to , while corresponds to . The Gram determinant checks the full area:Here the norm on bivectors is the one induced by the Euclidean inner product. The exterior product exists without that metric and in arbitrary dimension; the familiar cross product description relies on the additional three-dimensional geometry.
Let be a basis of homogeneous solutions of a linear ordinary differential operator of order . Let be independent homogeneous linear boundary conditions, which may be coupled. Suppose a fundamental solution satisfies . Define the boundary matrix and . If is invertible, thenThe added terms are homogeneous solutions, so the Dirac delta source is preserved. Applying the boundary operators gives . Any two such Green functions differ, for fixed source position, by a homogeneous solution with coefficient vector in the null space of ; invertibility therefore proves uniqueness. A singular boundary matrix signals a nontrivial homogeneous solution satisfying the endpoint conditions, where a compatibility condition and a nonunique inverse may arise. For , one convenient fundamental solution is .
Cauchy-Hadamard theorem Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
For the power series , the Cauchy-Hadamard theorem giveswith when the limit superior is zero, and when it is infinite. Away from the centre, the root test explains the formula: the limit superior of the term roots at displacement is , interpreted as zero for and infinite for . Values below one give absolute convergence; values above one imply that the terms fail to tend to zero. A value of one leaves the boundary question open. At the centre the series converges regardless of .
For and , the coefficient roots alternate between one and zero, so their ordinary limit does not exist. Their limit superior is nevertheless one, giving for inside the unit disk. A ratio of consecutive coefficients would be undefined at the zero coefficients; the root-limsup formula handles the gap directly.
In the first part of his 1892 study of functions given by Taylor series, Jacques Hadamard introduced an upper-limit formulation for sequences and used coefficient roots to determine the radius of convergence. Sections 4–6 separate finite positive, zero, and infinite root-growth cases; the later parts study singularities and continuation. See Hadamard, Essai sur l'étude des fonctions données par leur développement de Taylor, Journal de mathématiques pures et appliquées, fourth series 8 (1892), pp. 107–109. This original text explains the coefficient-growth question without implying that the study of power series began there.
Change of basis Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
A change of basis rewrites a vector using a different ordered basis of the same vector space. The vector stays fixed; its coordinate vector changes because the measuring directions change. Both bases must describe every vector uniquely, so a change of basis is reversible.
Start with the Cartesian basis , , and choose the new basis vectors and . For the vector ,The second coordinate vector says to travel once along and once along . Their vertical contributions cancel, leaving exactly the original horizontal arrow. The diagram shows two descriptions of that same arrow, with the same origin and endpoint.
Choosing a useful basis can reveal simple structure hidden by the old coordinate vectors. Here the new basis describes common and opposing contributions. For two equal measurements , the new coordinate vector is : only the common contribution is present. In larger examples, a suitable basis can concentrate important information into a few coefficients. Strang's lecture on change of basis develops this principle through applications: the reversible change of basis preserves information, while subsequently discarding small coefficients loses information.[ref]
Classical Gram-Schmidt 2026-10-14
Classical Gram-Schmidt computes all orthogonal projection coefficients from the original input , then subtracts their sum as in the displayed Gram-Schmidt process formula.
Coefficient Created 2026-10-06 Updated 2026-10-14
A scalar multiplying a specified term in a linear combination, polynomial or power series. When the term family has linear independence, the coefficients are unique; uniqueness of finite Laurent polynomial coefficients follows after multiplying by a sufficiently large power to obtain an ordinary polynomial.
For a nonnegative partition-normalized B-spline basis, the synthesis linear map has operator norm one. Its condition number is consequently , with the supremum norm on the spline space and the maximum norm on its coefficients. The uniform-norm stability of a B-spline basis bounds this number independently of the spline knot sequence when the order is fixed. This is different from the condition number of a particular sampled B-spline collocation matrix.
Coefficient-dominated entrywise positivity 2026-10-06
Let real power series and converge on , with for every index including zero. If has entries there, applying within two diagonal blocks and across them preserves positive semidefiniteness. Indeed the coefficient matrix is a bipartite block-constant positive semidefinite matrix. Each is positive semidefinite by the Schur product theorem, and their sum converges to the transformed matrix. Closedness of the positive semidefinite cone completes the proof. Convergence at one gives , so coefficient domination ensures absolute convergence of both series throughout the interval. Without the zero-index condition, , and give a counterexample.
Coefficient extraction recovers every probability mass:Indeed, termwise differentiation of a power series is valid inside ; evaluating the th derivative at zero kills every term except . Thus two probability generating functions with the same coefficients describe the same probability distribution, without any finite-moment assumption.
At one, approach along the real line from below. For each positive integer , termwise differentiation of a power series followed by the monotone convergence theorem gives the factorial momentFor integer , set . The limit may be infinite; it is a finite boundary value only when the corresponding factorial moment is finite. In particular, a finite first moment givesand a finite second moment givesThe variance formula follows from . These are boundary limits of derivatives; they do not assert that the probability generating function extends smoothly through one.
For a nonnegative integer-valued random variable, its moment-generating function satisfies wherever finite. The guaranteed probability generating function domain therefore supplies finite values for real ; it does not guarantee positive exponential moments or a finite moment-generating function on a neighborhood of zero. Bounded nonnegative integer-valued random variables have polynomial probability generating functions, but their convenient behavior is not a general existence theorem.
Compact-support spline zero count 2026-10-14
Let the real spline have distinct knots, order , nonzero endpoint coefficients, and no identically zero knot cell in its support. It and its first derivatives vanish at both support endpoints. If is its number of interior distinct zeros, there are initially zero components. Each differentiation through order increases this count by at least one: a nonzero gap between zero components has an interior extremum, and the two endpoint zeros remain separate. The final derivative is continuous piecewise linear on cells, and each cell can meet at most one zero component unless it is identically zero, in which case all its zeros belong to the same component. It therefore has at most zero components. Thus , proving the bound.
Pad a partition in a rectangle with zero rows until it has entries, and put . The complementary rotated diagram has row lengths . This is again a partition in a rectangle, and its size is . Repeating the operation recovers the original integer partition, so it gives a bijection between diagrams of size and diagrams of size . Consequently the coefficients of the Gaussian polynomial read the same in either direction. The displayed identity can be interpreted as an identity of Laurent polynomials; it does not require substituting at .
For the two-by-two rectangle, the empty diagram pairs with , and pairs with ; and each map to themselves. This establishes symmetry, while unimodality of Gaussian binomial coefficients is a stronger statement about the growth and decrease of successive coefficients.
Completing the square Created 2026-09-28 Updated 2026-10-18
Completing the square rewrites a quadratic polynomial so that its minimum or maximum and its roots of a polynomial become easy to read. The linear term is absorbed into a shift of the variable; the resulting polynomial identity changes the description, rather than the values of the polynomial.
For coefficients in the real numbers, with ,First factor out the leading coefficient from , then add and subtract inside the bracket. The cross term in is , exactly the term needed. Multiplication by restores . Thus the half-coefficient is , rather than unless the quadratic polynomial is a monic polynomial. Expanding the right-hand side verifies the polynomial identity directly.[ref]
For an original example,For every in the real numbers, , with equality only at . The minimum is therefore , reached at ; no calculus is needed, and there are no roots of a polynomial in the real numbers. The expanded coefficients conceal these conclusions more effectively than the completed square does.


