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For a plane given by the general form plane equation + + + =, the vector = (,,) is a normal. For a plane whose equation is given in parametric form (,) = + +, where is a point on the plane and , are non-parallel vectors pointing along the plane, a normal to the plane is a vector normal to both and , which can be found as the cross product =.
The normal section of a surface at a particular point is the curve produced by the intersection of that surface with a normal plane. [1] [2] [3] The curvature of the normal section is called the normal curvature. If the surface is bow or cylinder shaped, the maximum and the minimum of these curvatures are the principal curvatures.
Illustration of tangential and normal components of a vector to a surface. In mathematics, given a vector at a point on a curve, that vector can be decomposed uniquely as a sum of two vectors, one tangent to the curve, called the tangential component of the vector, and another one perpendicular to the curve, called the normal component of the vector.
In mathematics it is a common convention to express the normal as a unit vector, but the above argument holds for a normal vector of any non-zero length. Conversely, it is easily shown that if a , b , c , and d are constants and a , b , and c are not all zero, then the graph of the equation a x + b y + c z + d = 0 , {\displaystyle ax+by+cz+d=0 ...
A space curve; the vectors T, N, B; and the osculating plane spanned by T and N. In differential geometry, the Frenet–Serret formulas describe the kinematic properties of a particle moving along a differentiable curve in three-dimensional Euclidean space, or the geometric properties of the curve itself irrespective of any motion.
Distance from the origin O to the line E calculated with the Hesse normal form. Normal vector in red, line in green, point O shown in blue. In analytic geometry, the Hesse normal form (named after Otto Hesse) is an equation used to describe a line in the Euclidean plane, a plane in Euclidean space, or a hyperplane in higher dimensions.
The method hinges on the observation that the radius of a circle is always normal to the circle itself. With this in mind Descartes would construct a circle that was tangent to a given curve. He could then use the radius at the point of intersection to find the slope of a normal line, and from this one can easily find the slope of a tangent line.
The normal line at a point of a surface is the unique line passing through the point and perpendicular to the tangent plane; the normal vector is a vector which is parallel to the normal. For other differential invariants of surfaces, in the neighborhood of a point, see Differential geometry of surfaces.