Degrees of freedom

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Degrees of Freedom

Degrees of freedom (pronunciation: /dɪˈɡriːz ʌv ˈfriːdəm/) is a term used in Statistics and Physics to describe the number of independent ways by which a dynamic system can move, without violating any constraint imposed on it. The concept is central to the mathematical formulation of both classical and quantum mechanics.

Etymology

The term "degrees of freedom" was first used in 1877 by the English statistician Karl Pearson in his works on mathematical statistics. The term is derived from the Latin "gradus" meaning "step" and "libertas" meaning "freedom", signifying the different possible outcomes or states a system can take.

Related Terms

  • Statistical Mechanics: A branch of physics that uses statistical methods to explain the behavior of a mechanical system.
  • Kinematics: The study of motion, without considering the forces that cause the motion.
  • Dynamical System: A system in which a function describes the time dependence of a point in a geometrical space.
  • Constraint (mathematics): A condition of an optimization problem that the solution must satisfy.
  • Quantum Mechanics: A fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles.

See Also

External links

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