Concours ENSPY - independent subject practice key terms
Concours ENSPY - independent subject practice · Get comfortable with the vocabulary.
- Pointwise convergence
Convergence at each fixed point with an index that may depend on that point, which does not alone control errors across the whole domain.
- Uniform convergence
Convergence in which one sequence index controls the prescribed error simultaneously for every point in the stated domain.
- Dominating function
One integrable absolute bound applying to the entire sequence in a dominated-convergence argument, rather than an individually chosen bound for each term.
- Normal convergence of a function series
Convergence of the series of supremum norms in the specified setting, a sufficient condition for uniform absolute control of the series.
- Radius of convergence
The distance from the center within which a power series converges absolutely, with boundary points requiring their own analysis.
- Hessian
The matrix of second partial derivatives under suitable differentiability, used with its quadratic form to analyze local behavior near stationary points.
- Constraint qualification
A condition on constraints that supports the applicability of an optimization theorem, so formal multiplier equations are not used without hypotheses.
- Gram matrix
The matrix of pairwise inner products of basis vectors, used to compute projection coefficients when the basis is not orthonormal.
- Orthogonal projection
The subspace element whose residual is orthogonal to that subspace under the stated inner product, with existence depending on the relevant setting.
- Congruence transformation
A matrix transformation of a bilinear or quadratic form of the type P* A P, distinct from similarity of linear operators.
- Spectral radius
The supremum or maximum modulus of spectral values in the relevant setting, distinct from the largest singular value of a general matrix.
- Operator norm
A norm measuring the largest output magnitude for unit input under specified vector norms, which must not be confused with an arbitrary matrix entry.
- Condition number
A measure of sensitivity of a problem’s solution to specified relative input perturbations, depending on the norm and formulation used.
- Numerical stability
Control of the effects of computational perturbations and round-off by an algorithm, distinct from conditioning of the exact mathematical problem.
- Residual
The discrepancy obtained by substituting an approximate solution into the original equation, which may not directly equal the solution error.
- Newton iteration
A root-solving update using a function value and derivative, whose local convergence depends on root and initialization conditions.
- Absolute stability
A property of a numerical evolution method controlling growth on a specified test equation and step size, separate from approximation accuracy.
- Generalized coordinate
An independent coordinate describing a constrained mechanical configuration, chosen consistently with the model’s degrees of freedom.
- Normal mode
A characteristic coupled oscillation pattern with a shared frequency obtained from the appropriate mass and stiffness eigenvalue problem.
- Reversible adiabatic process
An idealized process with no heat transfer and no entropy production, unlike an arbitrary irreversible adiabatic process.