Step potential 2026-10-18
For constant mass , a finite jump from potential energy zero at to at requires continuity of the wavefunction and its first derivative. With incidence only from the left and , put and . Matching and gives reflected probability amplitude and transmission amplitude . The transmission probability is , conserving probability current.
For , replace by , where is the tunnelling decay constant. The right-hand wavefunction is , with zero probability current. Its probability density decays on length , while its amplitude decays on length . The semi-infinite raised region gives total reflection, unlike a finite potential barrier allowing quantum tunnelling into a second allowed region.
Stieltjes bilinear functional under a variation constraint Created 2026-10-07 Updated 2026-10-14
On bounded continuously differentiable functions with uniformly bounded total variation of a function, the map is Hadamard differentiable in the supremum norm with derivative . Use weak convergence of bounded-variation integrators for the first term and integration by parts for the remaining terms. No derivatives of the limiting continuous directions are required.
Stipulated vapor-pressure calculation 2026-10-14
Consider an unnamed model substance with molar latent heat and saturation pressure at . Stipulate the Ideal-vapor Clausius-Clapeyron approximation throughout , constant , and . These parameters define an illustrative model, not a measured dataset or a fit to water. At ,At the reference state the gas molar volume is , and the local slope is . The tangent estimate is much lower than the integrated result: a local derivative should not be extrapolated over this whole interval. By contrast, over a small temperature increment, the fractional sensitivity is .
Stipulated saturation pressure versus temperature and its linear logarithm versus inverse temperature
. Details. For real with positive st derivative, equality of consecutive best uniform approximation errors would make a best degree-at-most- polynomial also best at degree . The Chebyshev alternation theorem then supplies alternating extrema of its nonzero error, hence distinct zeros. Repeated Rolle's theorem forces a zero of the st derivative of that error, contradicting the assumed sign. The same conclusion holds for a strictly negative derivative by replacing with .
Strictly decreasing function 2026-10-14
A real-valued function is a strictly decreasing function if every pair in its domain of a function satisfies . It is a nonincreasing function and is injective, with a strictly decreasing inverse function on its image of a function. Negating a strictly increasing function gives a strictly decreasing function: is an example on the real line, even though its derivative vanishes at zero. Equal outputs are forbidden, unlike for a general nonincreasing function.
Strictly increasing function Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
A real-valued function is a strictly increasing function if every pair in its domain of a function satisfies . It is therefore injective, and each output has at most one preimage. Its inverse function on its image of a function is also strictly increasing. Every strictly increasing function is a nondecreasing function; the converse fails when outputs repeat.
The polynomial is a strictly increasing function on the real line, although its derivative is zero at zero. Indeed, for ,because can vanish only when . Thus a positive derivative everywhere is sufficient on a real interval, but is not necessary for a strictly increasing function.
Strict monotonicity does not ensure continuity: for and for is a strictly increasing function with a jump discontinuity. Its image of a function omits , so the inverse function exists only on the actual image of a function, rather than on all the real numbers.
Strong acid titration model 2026-10-18
Consider an original ideal model: of hydrochloric acid at , titrated with sodium hydroxide at . Treat these numbers as exact model inputs. Assume complete dissociation of an ionic compound, complete strong acid ionization, additive volumes, uniform mixing, and activity coefficients equal to one. Use stipulated , approximately appropriate near . These are calculated pH values, not measurements of these materials.
The chemical equation for neutralization isInitial acid inventory is , so the equivalence point is . Added water does not change this inventory. But the final volume , including the titrant, determines all concentrations.
Keep self-ionization of water even at the equivalence point. With , define the dimensionless acid excess , hydronium level , and hydroxide level byThe sodium cation and chloride anion inventories fix the electric charge balance , while chemical equilibrium gives . Eliminating yields a quadratic equation with exactly one positive root. For stable calculation on either side, writeThe second expression follows by multiplying by ; it avoids subtracting two nearly equal large quantities on the alkaline side. A logarithm acts on the dimensionless , as required by the pH definition.
An ideal strong acid titration curve stays smooth through its equivalence point because of self-ionization of water
. Original analytic model for of hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide, with . Both panels use the complete electric charge balance and ideal chemical equilibrium. The right panel resolves microlitre additions around the equivalence point. The marked points are calculated, not measured. Details.At , the excess is in , giving and pH . At , excess hydroxide is in , giving and pH . Neglecting dilution would give the wrong values even far from the equivalence point.
Exactly at , and , giving pH in this model. At and , the same smooth expression gives pH and . The familiar excess-only formulas would predict zero hydronium or zero hydroxide at the equivalence point; retaining self-ionization of water removes that failure. A steep curve is still continuous.
The sensitivity is especially revealing. Differentiating giveswhen . At this model's equivalence point, the derivative is about pH units per millilitre. This is a local derivative, not a linear prediction over a whole drop. Real endpoint accuracy also depends on dosing, mixing, measurement uncertainty, temperature, extra reacting chemical species, and nonideal thermodynamic activities.
Subcritical Hopf bifurcation Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
In a subcritical Hopf bifurcation, the small periodic orbit repels within the critical centre manifold and lies on the side where the equilibrium point attracts within that manifold. With the critical eigenvalue real part increasing through zero, the positive cubic sign gives the exact radial Hopf normal formFor , the nonzero radius is . Radii below shrink to zero, whereas radii above it grow. The radial derivative at the cycle is , proving that the periodic orbit repels. For example, gives an unstable circle of radius : a radius of decays while one of grows. The unstable circle shrinks into zero as ; at , already drives every small positive radius outward.
For there is no nonzero constant radius in this cubic model, and zero repels. In a general dynamical system, this says only that the nearby orbits leave the local neighbourhood. It does not guarantee a distant attracting limit cycle, a jump to a particular amplitude, or hysteresis. Additional nonlinear or global information is needed; the quintic radial Hopf equation illustrates one possible stabilizing extension. Reversing the parameter orientation reverses which numerical side contains the branch, so the defining distinction between supercritical Hopf bifurcation and subcritical Hopf bifurcation is their reduced stability and their relation to the equilibrium point, rather than the bare sign of an arbitrarily named parameter.
Subdivision curve 2026-10-14
A subdivision curve is the limit of repeated refinement of a control polygon, when that limit exists. Each finite stage still consists of line segments; the limiting curve can have a continuous derivative. Linear stationary rules, which use the same fixed weighted averages at every stage, can be studied through their subdivision masks and often represent splines. An interpolation rule retains the old control points, as in binary linear interpolatory subdivision; an approximating rule such as Chaikin subdivision generally moves away from them. Increasing the number of control points alone does not prove convergence or smoothness.
// Target: analysis.bigb
Subdivision difference scheme 2026-10-14
For backward differences , a scalar stationary arity- subdivision mask has symbol . The identity gives the displayed intertwining whenever the quotient is a finite Laurent polynomial. Iterating supplies higher-difference masks. The coefficients are candidate th-derivative controls. A convergent derivative scheme, proved by contraction of its first differences, establishes corresponding smoothness of the original limit under the standard consistent parameterization.
Subdivision surface interrogation 2026-10-14
Interrogation of a subdivision limit needs patch/topology navigation, refinement, limit evaluation and derivatives where they exist, with certified bounds and geometric error estimates. On regular patches one may use the corresponding spline representation. At extraordinary subdivision vertices, local subdivision matrices determine limit positions and tangents under the scheme's smoothness conditions. A normal vector may exist even when second derivatives and Gaussian curvature do not; finite refined polygons are approximations rather than exact limit queries.
Superstable periodic orbit 2026-10-14
A periodic orbit of a differentiable interval map is superstable when its periodic-orbit multiplier vanishes. A cycle passing through a critical point has zero multiplier because the derivative product includes . For the nonconstant quadratic family , a superstable cycle satisfies and does not have a smaller critical period.
// Target: dynamical-systems.bigb
Tangential boundary derivative 2026-10-05
A tangential boundary derivative differentiates the boundary restriction of a function along a tangent vector. Prescribing it fixes the boundary value only up to a constant on each connected boundary component. This differs from a Neumann boundary condition, which specifies a normal derivative.
Tangential integer nematic defect core 2026-10-06
For a planar tangential charge-one nematic disclination, . This follows by differentiating the tensor dyad, using and . With bulk density and divergence elastic density , radial variation of givesFor , a regular melted core has and an ordered far field has . Linearizing the bulk derivative gives . The core scale is of order ; the amplitude disturbance has an integrable algebraic tail, rather than exactly compact support.
Tangent line Created 2026-10-06 Updated 2026-10-14
The tangent line to a differentiable function at is its affine first-order approximation . For a differentiable concave function, it is an upper bound throughout a convex interval: the secant-slope inequality and passage to the derivative give . This upper bound constructs valid envelopes in adaptive rejection sampling.
Tangent vector Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-18
A tangent vector at a point of a smooth manifold without boundary records an instantaneous velocity through . Its base point is part of the data; measuring its length additionally requires a Riemannian metric. Intrinsically, a smooth curve with defines its tangent vector by how every local smooth function changes along it:This is a derivation at a point. Two smooth curves through 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 , with its base point retained. A drawn arrow starting at represents that tangent vector; its endpoint 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 , and have different routes but the same tangent vector at . For , both give . For a circle of radius , has tangent vector at : changing changes the speed or reverses travel without changing the circle.
A reparametrization with gives, by the chain rule, . A regular change of curve parameter has . The singular choice 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 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.


