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A tangent vector at $p$ is a derivation at a point: a real-linear map $v:C_p^{\infty }(M)\to \mathbb{R}$ on germs of smooth functions satisfyingAddition and scalar multiplication preserve this identity, defining the tangent space $T_{p}M$ as a vector space. A derivation annihilates constants. In a manifold chart $x=(x^1,\dots ,x^n)$ centered near $p$, the local factorization $f-f(p)={\sum }_i(x^i-x^i(p))f_i$, with $f_i(p)={\partial }_{i}f(p)$, gives $v(f)={\sum }_{i}v(x^i){\partial }_{i}f(p)$. The factorization follows by integrating the first derivatives along a straight segment in a sufficiently small coordinate ball. ThereforeConversely these coordinate derivatives satisfy the derivation identity, so they really give a basis rather than merely a spanning family.

The cotangent space is the dual vector space $T_p^{\ast }M=(T_{p}M{)}^{\ast }$. Its basis $d{x}^i{|}_p$ is characterized by $d{x}^i({\partial }_j)={\delta }_j^i$. If $\alpha =a_{i}d{x}^i=b_{j}d{y}^j$, the chain rule gives the cotangent coordinate transitionThe cotangent bundle is the disjoint union $T^{\ast }M={\coprod }_{p\in M}{T}_p^{\ast }M$, with projection $\pi (p,\alpha )=p$. For each base manifold chart $(U,x)$, defineIts inverse sends $(z,a)$ to $(x^{-1}(z),a_{i}d{x}^i{|}_{x^{-1}(z)})$. On overlaps the transition is $(x,a)\mapsto (y(x),b)$, with the displayed fibre-linear transformation. Its coefficients and inverse are smooth, so these maps give a smooth atlas in dimension $2n$. Give the total space the topology obtained by transporting the product topology through these charts. Different base points are separated by disjoint base neighborhoods; distinct points over the same base point are separated within one bundle chart. A countable base smooth atlas and countable product bases give second countability. Thus the total space is a Hausdorff, second-countable smooth manifold. The same charts are vector bundle trivializations, since $\pi$ is product projection and their fibre changes are invertible linear maps.

The intrinsic canonical one-form on a cotangent bundle isIn the bundle chart it is $\lambda ={\sum }_i{a}_{i}d{x}^i$. This definition is coordinate independent, hence its exterior derivative is the globally defined smooth differential two-formThis sign follows the fibre-first order in this problem; the equally common position-first symplectic form is $-d\lambda$. The volume formnever vanishes. A smooth manifold is orientable exactly when it admits a nowhere-zero top-degree form; its positive ordered bases determine a consistent orientation. Consequently $T^{\ast }M$ is an orientable smooth manifold, even when $M$ is not. This is cotangent bundle orientation. In dimension zero the same conclusion uses the nowhere-zero zero-form $1$.

A tangent vector at a point $p$ of a smooth manifold without boundary records an instantaneous velocity through $p$. Its base point is part of the data; measuring its length additionally requires a Riemannian metric. Intrinsically, a smooth curve $\gamma$ with $\gamma (0)=p$ defines its tangent vector by how every local smooth function changes along it:This is a derivation at a point. Two smooth curves through $p$ represent the same tangent vector if these derivatives agree for every such smooth function; equivalently, their coordinate velocity vectors agree in one manifold chart. The chain rule makes that agreement independent of the chosen manifold chart. ^[ref]

For an embedded submanifold of Euclidean space, the intrinsic tangent vector is represented by the ordinary derivative ${\gamma }^{\prime }(0)$, with its base point $p$ retained. A drawn arrow starting at $p$ represents that tangent vector; its endpoint $p+{\gamma }^{\prime }(0)$ need not lie on the embedded submanifold. Nor is a tangent vector required to be a unit tangent vector: a stationary smooth curve gives the zero vector, which belongs to the tangent space but has no direction to normalize.

Here are explicit calculations. In ${\mathbb{R}}^2$, $\gamma (t)=(t,t^2)$ and $\eta (t)=(t,2t^2)$ have different routes but the same tangent vector $(1,0)$ at $(0,0)$. For $f(x,y)=3x+y$, both give $v(f)=3$. For a circle of radius $R$, $c(t)=(R\cos (\omega t),R\sin (\omega t))$ has tangent vector $(0,R\omega )$ at $(R,0)$: changing $\omega$ changes the speed or reverses travel without changing the circle.

A reparametrization $\beta (s)=\gamma (h(s))$ with $h(0)=0$ gives, by the chain rule, ${\beta }^{\prime }(0)=h^{\prime }(0){\gamma }^{\prime }(0)$. A regular change of curve parameter has $h^{\prime }(0)\ne 0$. The singular choice $h(s)=s^3$ instead givesBoth describe the same parabola, whose tangent line at the origin is still the horizontal axis. The zero velocity diagnoses this singular change of curve parameter, whose inverse is not differentiable at zero; it does not show that the geometric tangent line is absent. The regular curve $\gamma$ supplies its nonzero direction.

The diagram is an analytical illustration of these exact parametric curves, with equal parameter increments marked on each route. It separates geometry from traversal: the tangent line depends on the route, while a velocity vector also depends on how the curve parameter advances.