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The gradient of H at a point is a plane vector pointing in the direction of the steepest slope or grade at that point. The steepness of the slope at that point is given by the magnitude of the gradient vector. The gradient can also be used to measure how a scalar field changes in other directions, rather than just the direction of greatest ...
Slope illustrated for y = (3/2)x − 1.Click on to enlarge Slope of a line in coordinates system, from f(x) = −12x + 2 to f(x) = 12x + 2. The slope of a line in the plane containing the x and y axes is generally represented by the letter m, [5] and is defined as the change in the y coordinate divided by the corresponding change in the x coordinate, between two distinct points on the line.
l = slope length α = angle of inclination. The grade (US) or gradient (UK) (also called stepth, slope, incline, mainfall, pitch or rise) of a physical feature, landform or constructed line is either the elevation angle of that surface to the horizontal or its tangent. It is a special case of the slope, where zero indicates horizontality. A ...
As the name implies, the gradient is proportional to, and points in the direction of, the function's most rapid (positive) change. For a vector field = ...
The gradient theorem states that if the vector field F is the gradient of some scalar-valued function (i.e., if F is conservative), then F is a path-independent vector field (i.e., the integral of F over some piecewise-differentiable curve is dependent only on end points). This theorem has a powerful converse:
The idea is to take repeated steps in the opposite direction of the gradient (or approximate gradient) of the function at the current point, because this is the direction of steepest descent. Conversely, stepping in the direction of the gradient will lead to a trajectory that maximizes that function; the procedure is then known as gradient ascent.
The evaluation () measures how much points in the direction determined by at , and this direction is the gradient. This point of view makes the total derivative an instance of the exterior derivative.
Stream gradient (or stream slope) is the grade (or slope) of a stream. It is measured by the ratio of drop in elevation and horizontal distance. [ 1 ] It is a dimensionless quantity , usually expressed in units of meters per kilometer (m/km) or feet per mile (ft/mi); it may also be expressed in percent (%).