Saddle point
= Saddle point
{wiki}
A saddle point of a differentiable real-valued function is a <critical point> which is neither a <local maximum> nor a <local minimum>. For example $f(x,y)=x^2-y^2$ has a saddle at the origin. For a nonconstant <holomorphic function>, critical points of its real part supply the complex-phase application used by the <method of steepest descent>.