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Differential forms can be multiplied together using the exterior product, and for any differential k-form α, there is a differential (k + 1)-form dα called the exterior derivative of α. Differential forms, the exterior product and the exterior derivative are independent of a choice of coordinates.
In mathematics, especially vector calculus and differential topology, a closed form is a differential form α whose exterior derivative is zero (dα = 0), and an exact form is a differential form, α, that is the exterior derivative of another differential form β. Thus, an exact form is in the image of d, and a closed form is in the kernel of d.
In discrete calculus, this is a construction that creates from forms higher order forms: adjoining two cochains of degree and to form a composite cochain of degree +. For cubical complexes, the wedge product is defined on every cube seen as a vector space of the same dimension.
The exterior derivative of a differential form of degree k (also differential k-form, or just k-form for brevity here) is a differential form of degree k + 1.. If f is a smooth function (a 0-form), then the exterior derivative of f is the differential of f .
In multivariate calculus, a differential or differential form is said to be exact or perfect (exact differential), as contrasted with an inexact differential, if it is equal to the general differential for some differentiable function in an orthogonal coordinate system (hence is a multivariable function whose variables are independent, as they are always expected to be when treated in ...
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The wedge product of complex differential forms is defined in the same way as with real forms. Let p and q be a pair of non-negative integers ≤ n. The space Ω p,q of (p, q)-forms is defined by taking linear combinations of the wedge products of p elements from Ω 1,0 and q elements from Ω 0,1. Symbolically,
The differential was first introduced via an intuitive or heuristic definition by Isaac Newton and furthered by Gottfried Leibniz, who thought of the differential dy as an infinitely small (or infinitesimal) change in the value y of the function, corresponding to an infinitely small change dx in the function's argument x.