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Ansatz


An ansatz is an assumed trial form for an unknown mathematical object or solution. It is chosen to reflect known structure, symmetry, physical intuition, or an approximation, and substitutes a more specific form into a problem so that the remaining unknown quantities can be determined.

The term is used in both mathematics and physics. An example from mathematical physics is the Bethe ansatz (Müller).


See also

Conjecture, Hypothesis, Principle, Proposition

This entry contributed by Mark D. Carrara

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References

Müller, G. "Introduction to the Bethe Ansatz." http://www.phys.uri.edu/~gerhard/introbethe.html.

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Ansatz

Cite this as:

Weisstein, Eric W., with contributions by Mark D. Carrara. "Ansatz." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Resource. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/Ansatz.html

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