Fixed point
Encyclopedia
"Fixed point" has many meanings in science, most of them mathematical.
- Fixed point (mathematics)Fixed point (mathematics)In mathematics, a fixed point of a function is a point that is mapped to itself by the function. A set of fixed points is sometimes called a fixed set...
- Fixed-point combinator
- Fixed-point arithmeticFixed-point arithmeticIn computing, a fixed-point number representation is a real data type for a number that has a fixed number of digits after the radix point...
, a manner of doing arithmetic on computers - Benchmark (surveying)Benchmark (surveying)The term bench mark, or benchmark, originates from the chiseled horizontal marks that surveyors made in stone structures, into which an angle-iron could be placed to form a "bench" for a leveling rod, thus ensuring that a leveling rod could be accurately repositioned in the same place in the future...
, fixed points used by geodesists - For “fixed points” in physics, see Renormalization groupRenormalization groupIn theoretical physics, the renormalization group refers to a mathematical apparatus that allows systematic investigation of the changes of a physical system as viewed at different distance scales...
- Fixed points are necessary for a watercraft to be moored to a quay.
- ArchimedesArchimedesArchimedes of Syracuse was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists in classical antiquity. Among his advances in physics are the foundations of hydrostatics, statics and an...
said δῶς μοι πᾶ στῶ καὶ τὰν γᾶν κινάσω, which is sometimes translated as “Give me a fixed point and I will move the world.”