Kronecker delta

From Citizendium
Revision as of 12:19, 6 December 2008 by imported>Richard Pinch (new entry, just a stub)
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

In algebra, the Kronecker delta is a notation for a quantity depending on two subscripts i and j which is equal to one when i and j are equal, and zero then they are unequal.

If the subscripts are taken to vary from 1 to n then δ gives the entries of the n-by-n identity matrix. The invariance of this matrix under orthogonal change of coordinate makes δ a rank two tensor.