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In mathematics, a tangent vector is a vector that is tangent to a curve or surface at a given point. Tangent vectors are described in the differential geometry of curves in the context of curves in R n. More generally, tangent vectors are elements of a tangent space of a differentiable manifold. Tangent vectors can also be described in terms of ...
Differential geometry of curves is the branch of geometry that deals with smooth curves in the plane and the Euclidean space by methods of differential and integral calculus. Many specific curves have been thoroughly investigated using the synthetic approach .
Tangent vectors are described in the differential geometry of curves in the context of curves in R n. More generally, tangent vectors are elements of a tangent space of a differentiable manifold. Tangent vectors can also be described in terms of germs. Formally, a tangent vector at the point is a linear derivation of the algebra defined by the ...
The distances shown are the ordinate (AP), tangent (TP), subtangent (TA), normal (PN), and subnormal (AN). The angle φ is the angle of inclination of the tangent line or the tangential angle. In geometry, the subtangent and related terms are certain line segments defined using the line tangent to a curve at a given point and the coordinate ...
The normal curvature, k n, is the curvature of the curve projected onto the plane containing the curve's tangent T and the surface normal u; the geodesic curvature, k g, is the curvature of the curve projected onto the surface's tangent plane; and the geodesic torsion (or relative torsion), τ r, measures the rate of change of the surface ...
The tangent plane is an affine concept, because its definition is independent of the choice of a metric. In other words, any affine transformation maps the tangent plane to the surface at a point to the tangent plane to the image of the surface at the image of the point.
The exact definition of this pushforward depends on the definition one uses for tangent vectors (for the various definitions see tangent space). If tangent vectors are defined as equivalence classes of the curves γ {\displaystyle \gamma } for which γ ( 0 ) = x , {\displaystyle \gamma (0)=x,} then the differential is given by
In algebraic geometry, in contrast, there is an intrinsic definition of the tangent space at a point of an algebraic variety that gives a vector space with dimension at least that of itself. The points p {\displaystyle p} at which the dimension of the tangent space is exactly that of V {\displaystyle V} are called non-singular points; the ...