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Affine Coordinates


The coordinates representing any point of an n-dimensional affine space A by an n-tuple of real numbers, thus establishing a one-to-one correspondence between A and R^n.

If V is the underlying vector space, and O is the origin, every point P of A is identified with the n-tuple of the components (x_1,...,x_n) of vector OP with respect to a given basis v_1,...,v_n of V.

If A is a three-dimensional space, each basis v_1,v_2,v_3 can be depicted by choosing its elements as the unit vectors of the x-axis, the y-axis, and the z-axis, respectively. In general, this will produce three axes which are not necessarily perpendicular, and where the units are set differently. Hence, Cartesian coordinates are a very special kind of affine coordinates that correspond to the case where v_1=(1,0,0), v_2=(0,1,0), v_3=(0,0,1).


See also

Affine, Cartesian Coordinates, Homogeneous Coordinates, Oblique Coordinates

This entry contributed by Margherita Barile

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Cite this as:

Barile, Margherita. "Affine Coordinates." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Web Resource, created by Eric W. Weisstein. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/AffineCoordinates.html

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