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A metric tensor is a (symmetric) (0, 2)-tensor; it is thus possible to contract an upper index of a tensor with one of the lower indices of the metric tensor in the product. This produces a new tensor with the same index structure as the previous tensor, but with lower index generally shown in the same position of the contracted upper index.
In mathematics, a tensor is a certain kind of geometrical entity and array concept. It generalizes the concepts of scalar , vector and linear operator , in a way that is independent of any chosen frame of reference .
A dyadic tensor T is an order-2 tensor formed by the tensor product ⊗ of two Cartesian vectors a and b, written T = a ⊗ b.Analogous to vectors, it can be written as a linear combination of the tensor basis e x ⊗ e x ≡ e xx, e x ⊗ e y ≡ e xy, ..., e z ⊗ e z ≡ e zz (the right-hand side of each identity is only an abbreviation, nothing more):
Multilinear algebra is the study of functions with multiple vector-valued arguments, with the functions being linear maps with respect to each argument. It involves concepts such as matrices, tensors, multivectors, systems of linear equations, higher-dimensional spaces, determinants, inner and outer products, and dual spaces.
In mathematics and physics, a tensor field is a function assigning a tensor to each point of a region of a mathematical space (typically a Euclidean space or manifold) or of the physical space. Tensor fields are used in differential geometry , algebraic geometry , general relativity , in the analysis of stress and strain in material object, and ...
Mathematical expressions involving these quantities in vector calculus and tensor analysis (such as the gradient, divergence, curl, and Laplacian) can be transformed from one coordinate system to another, according to transformation rules for scalars, vectors, and tensors. Such expressions then become valid for any curvilinear coordinate system.
Likewise, vectors whose components are contravariant push forward under smooth mappings, so the operation assigning the space of (contravariant) vectors to a smooth manifold is a covariant functor. Secondly, in the classical approach to differential geometry, it is not bases of the tangent bundle that are the most primitive object, but rather ...
Mathematically vectors are elements of a vector space over a field, and for use in physics is usually defined with = or . Concretely, if the dimension n = dim ( V ) {\displaystyle n={\text{dim}}(V)} of V {\displaystyle V} is finite, then, after making a choice of basis , we can view such vector spaces as R n {\displaystyle \mathbb {R} ^{n}} or ...