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In mathematics, a tangent vector is a vector that is tangent to a curve or surface at a given point. Tangent vectors are described in the differential geometry of curves in the context of curves in R n. More generally, tangent vectors are elements of a tangent space of a differentiable manifold. Tangent vectors can also be described in terms of ...
Illustration of tangential and normal components of a vector to a surface. 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.
The tangent vector's magnitude ‖ ′ ‖ is the speed at the time t 0. The first Frenet vector e 1 (t) is the unit tangent vector in the same direction, defined at each regular point of γ: = ′ ‖ ′ ‖.
k = 1 is the tangent line to the right of the circles looking from c 1 to c 2. k = −1 is the tangent line to the right of the circles looking from c 2 to c 1. The above assumes each circle has positive radius. If r 1 is positive and r 2 negative then c 1 will lie to the left of each line and c 2 to the right, and the two tangent lines will ...
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 that spans, and are defined as follows: T is the unit vector tangent to the curve, pointing in the direction of motion.
The circle S and the curve C have the common tangent line at P, and therefore the common normal line. Close to P, the distance between the points of the curve C and the circle S in the normal direction decays as the cube or a higher power of the distance to P in the tangential direction.
A vector field attaches to every point of the manifold a vector from the tangent space at that point, in a smooth manner. Such a vector field serves to define a generalized ordinary differential equation on a manifold: A solution to such a differential equation is a differentiable curve on the manifold whose derivative at any point is equal to ...
Tangent to a curve. The red line is tangential to the curve at the point marked by a red dot. Tangent plane to a sphere. In geometry, the tangent line (or simply tangent) to a plane curve at a given point is, intuitively, the straight line that "just touches" the curve at that point.