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Snell's law. Refraction of light at the interface between two media of different refractive indices, with n 2 > n 1. Since the velocity is lower in the second medium (v 2 < v 1), the angle of refraction θ 2 is less than the angle of incidence θ 1; that is, the ray in the higher-index medium is closer to the normal.
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. Similarly, a vector at a point on a surface can be broken down the ...
The tangent, normal, and binormal unit vectors, often called T, N, and B, or collectively the Frenet–Serret frame (TNB frame or TNB basis), together form an orthonormal basis spanning and are defined as follows: T is the unit vector tangent to the curve, pointing in the direction of motion.
In Euclidean plane geometry, a tangent line to a circle is a line that touches the circle at exactly one point, never entering the circle's interior. Tangent lines to circles form the subject of several theorems, and play an important role in many geometrical constructions and proofs. Since the tangent line to a circle at a point P is ...
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 axes. The terms are somewhat archaic today but were in common use until the early part of the 20th century.
Interface conditions describe the behaviour of electromagnetic fields; electric field, electric displacement field, and the magnetic field at the interface of two materials. The differential forms of these equations require that there is always an open neighbourhood around the point to which they are applied, otherwise the vector fields and H ...
The angle between the horizontal line and the shown diagonal is 1 2 (a + b). This is a geometric way to prove the particular tangent half-angle formula that says tan 1 2 (a + b) = (sin a + sin b) / (cos a + cos b). The formulae sin 1 2 (a + b) and cos 1 2 (a + b) are the ratios of the actual distances to the length ...
A right triangle with sides relative to an angle at the point. Inverse trigonometric functions are useful when trying to determine the remaining two angles of a right triangle when the lengths of the sides of the triangle are known. Recalling the right-triangle definitions of sine and cosine, it follows that.