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There are certain optimization problems that become unmanageable using combinatorial methods as the number of objects becomes large. A typical example is the traveling ...

A quantity which gives the inclination of a curve or line with respect to another curve or line. For a line in the xy-plane making an angle theta with the x-axis, the slope m ...

Stirling's approximation gives an approximate value for the factorial function n! or the gamma function Gamma(n) for n>>1. The approximation can most simply be derived for n ...

Given a function f(x)=f_0(x), write f_1=f^'(x) and define the Sturm functions by f_n(x)=-{f_(n-2)(x)-f_(n-1)(x)[(f_(n-2)(x))/(f_(n-1)(x))]}, (1) where [P(x)/Q(x)] is a ...

The tangent plane to a surface at a point p is the tangent space at p (after translating to the origin). The elements of the tangent space are called tangent vectors, and ...

A number of attractive tetrahedron 5-compounds can be constructed. The first (left figures) is one of the icosahedron stellations in which the 5×4 vertices of the tetrahedra ...

Given three jugs with x pints in the first, y in the second, and z in the third, obtain a desired amount in one of the vessels by completely filling up and/or emptying ...

Transfinite induction, like regular induction, is used to show a property P(n) holds for all numbers n. The essential difference is that regular induction is restricted to ...

Two trains are on the same track a distance 100 km apart heading towards one another, each at a speed of 50 km/h. A fly starting out at the front of one train, flies towards ...

A unit circle is a circle of unit radius, i.e., of radius 1. The unit circle plays a significant role in a number of different areas of mathematics. For example, the ...