In psychology, motivation is the driving force (desire) behind all actions of human beings, animals, and lower organisms. Many textbooks define it as an internal state or condition that activates behavior and gives it direction, desire or want that energizes and directs goal-oriented behavior, or an influence of needs and desires on the intensity and direction of behavior. Motivation is often based on emotions, specifically, on the search for positive emotional experiences and the avoidance of negative ones, where positi ...

Including:

• Motivation - Types of motivation
• Motivation - Physiological needs
• Motivation - Other biological motivations
• Motivation - Secondary goals
• Motivation - Coercion
• Motivation - Self control
• Motivation - Controlling motivation
• Motivation - Early programming
• Motivation - Organization
• Motivation - Drugs
• Motivation - In Education
• Motivation - Is Money a Motivator?
• Motivation - Reference

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The simplest introduction to p-adic numbers is to consider 10-adic numbers, which are simply integers in which you allow an infinite number of digits to the left, for example, the number ...9999, and then do arithmetic with such numbers as usual. In other words, do arithmetic like you would with real numbers, but with digits going off to the left instead of to the right. The references to valuations and metrics given below are simply technical devices which justify the ordinary operations. For example, ...

See also:

P-adic number, P-adic number - Motivation, P-adic number - Constructions, P-adic number - Analytic approach, P-adic number - Algebraic approach, P-adic number - Properties, P-adic number - Generalizations and related concepts

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In mathematics, there is a close relationship between spaces, which are geometric in nature, and the numerical functions on them. In general, such functions will form a commutative ring. For instance, one may take the ring C(X) of continuous complex-valued functions on a topological space X. In many important cases (e.g., if X is a compact Hausdorff space), we can recover X from C(X), and therefore it makes some sense ...

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Noncommutative geometry, Noncommutative geometry - Motivation, Noncommutative geometry - Non-commutative C*-algebras von Neumann algebras, Noncommutative geometry - Non-commutative differentiable manifolds, Noncommutative geometry - Non-commutative affine schemes, Noncommutative geometry - Examples of non-commutative spaces, Noncommutative geometry - History

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There are at least three reasons to consider non-standard analysis: Non-standard analysis - Historical. Much of the earliest development of the infinitesimal calculus by Newton and Leibniz was formulated using expressions such as infinitesimal number and vanishing quantity. As noted in the article on hyperreal numbers, these formulations were widely criticized by Bishop Berkeley and others. It was a challenge to develop a consistent theory of analysis using infinitesimals and it is arguable that the first person to solve this in a satisfa ...

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Non-standard analysis, Non-standard analysis - Motivation, Non-standard analysis - Historical, Non-standard analysis - Pedagogical, Non-standard analysis - Technical, Non-standard analysis - Approaches to non-standard analysis, Non-standard analysis - Applications, Non-standard analysis - Applications to calculus, Non-standard analysis - Criticisms, Non-standard analysis - Logical framework, Non-standard analysis - First consequences

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Scientific notation is a very convenient way to write large or small numbers. It also quickly conveys two properties of a measurement that are useful to scientists—significant figures and order of magnitude. Scientific notation - Examples. An electron's mass is 0.00000000000000000000000000000091093826 kg. In scientific notation, it is written 9.1093826×10−31 kg. The Earth's mass is 5,973,600,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg. In scientific notation, it is written 5.9736×1024 kg. See also:

Scientific notation, Scientific notation - Description, Scientific notation - Engineering notation, Scientific notation - Exponential notation, Scientific notation - Motivation, Scientific notation - Examples, Scientific notation - Significant digits, Scientific notation - Order of magnitude, Scientific notation - Using scientific notation, Scientific notation - Converting, Scientific notation - Basic operations

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To understand the motivation for using callbacks, consider the problem of performing an arbitrary operation on each item in a list. One approach is to obtain an iterator over the list, and then operate on successive objects obtained from the iterator. This is the most common solution in practice, but it is not ideal; the code to manage the iterator must be duplicated at each point in the code where the list is traversed. Furthermore, if the list is updated by an asynchronous process, the iterator might ...

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Callback computer science, Callback computer science - Motivation, Callback computer science - Implementation, Callback computer science - Special cases

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Suppose points in space are associated with vectors. Imagine that Smith knows that a certain point is the origin, and Jones believes that another point -- call it p -- is the origin. Two points, a and b are to be added. Jones draws an arrow from p to a and another arrow from p to b, and completes the parallelogram to find a point that Jones thinks is a + b, but is actually p + (a − ...

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Affine combination, Affine combination - Motivation

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In a vector space, the set of scalars forms a field and acts on the vectors by scalar multiplication, subject to certain formal laws such as the distributive law. In a module, the scalars need only be a ring, so the module concept represents a significant generalization. Much of the theory of modules consists of extending as many as possible of the desirable properties of vector spaces to the realm of modules over a "well-behaved" ring, such as a principal ideal domain. However, modules can be quite a bit more complicate ...

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Module mathematics, Module mathematics - Motivation, Module mathematics - Definition, Module mathematics - Examples, Module mathematics - Submodules and homomorphisms, Module mathematics - Types of modules, Module mathematics - Relation to representation theory, Module mathematics - Generalizations

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Main page: network-centric warfare The network-centric warfare (NCW) doctrine represents a fundamental shift in military culture, away from powerful compartmentalized war machines and toward interconnected units operating cohesively. The tenet of NCW is to improve and streamline the sharing of information that would, in theory, enhance all aspects of the modern military. At the enterprise level, forging new paths that components of the military communicate in will ease logistics burdens, improve communication and combat ...

See also:

Global Information Grid, Global Information Grid - Motivation, Global Information Grid - Architecture, Global Information Grid - Implementation, Global Information Grid - See Also

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In informal use, a cardinal number is what is normally referred to as a counting number. They may be identified with the natural numbers beginning with 0 (i.e. 0, 1, 2, ...). The counting numbers are exactly what can be defined formally as the finite cardinal numbers. Infinite cardinals only occur in higher-level mathematics and logic. More formally, a non-zero number can be used for two purposes: to describe the size of a set, or to describe the position of an element in a sequence. For finite sets and sequences it is e ...

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Cardinal number, Cardinal number - History, Cardinal number - Motivation, Cardinal number - Formal definition, Cardinal number - Cardinal arithmetic, Cardinal number - The continuum hypothesis

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Adjoint functors - Ubiquity of adjoint functors. The idea of an adjoint functor was formulated by Daniel Kan in 1958. Like many of the concepts in category theory, it was suggested by the needs of homological algebra, which was at the time devoted to computations. Those faced with giving tidy, systematic presentations of the subject would have noticed relations such as Hom(F(X), Y< ...

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Adjoint functors, Adjoint functors - Motivation, Adjoint functors - Ubiquity of adjoint functors, Adjoint functors - Deep problems formulated with adjoint functors, Adjoint functors - Adjoint functors as solving optimization problems, Adjoint functors - The case of partial orders, Adjoint functors - Formal definitions, Adjoint functors - Examples, Adjoint functors - Properties, Adjoint functors - Uniqueness of adjoints, Adjoint functors - Relation to universal constructions, Adjoint functors - Characterization via unit and co-unit, Adjoint functors - Adjoints preserve certain limits, Adjoint functors - Additivity, Adjoint functors - Composition, Adjoint functors - Adjoint pairs extend equivalences, Adjoint functors - General existence theorem

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Vegetarianism - Religious. The majority of the world's vegetarians, according to the Society of Ethical and Religious Vegetarians, follow the practice for religious reasons. Many religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, the Bahá'í Faith, Sikhism, and especially Jainism, teach that ideally life should always be valued and not willfully destroyed for unnecessary human gratification. Smaller denominations that prescribe the diet include the Seventh-day Adventis ...

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Vegetarianism, Vegetarianism - History, Vegetarianism - Recent trends, Vegetarianism - Terminology and varieties of vegetarianism, Vegetarianism - Motivation, Vegetarianism - Religious, Vegetarianism - Nutritional, Vegetarianism - Ethical, Vegetarianism - Environmental, Vegetarianism - Social, Vegetarianism - Spiritual, Vegetarianism - Physiological, Vegetarianism - Aesthetic, Vegetarianism - Vegetarian cuisine, Vegetarianism - Country specific information, Vegetarianism - Vegetarian societies, Vegetarianism - Criticism, Vegetarianism - Vegetarian diet and longevity, Vegetarianism - Vegetarian diet is not a healthy diet, Vegetarianism - Environment, Vegetarianism - Animal Right

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Inflation resolves several problems in the Big Bang cosmology that were pointed out in the 1970s. Among these are the observed flatness of the universe (the flatness problem), its extraordinary homogeneity on large (non-causally-connected) scales (the horizon problem), and its lack of any observed topological defects (the monopole problem), predicted by many Grand Unified Theories. Predictions of the standard model of inflation include geometrical flatness of the universe and near scale invariance of the primordial density fluctuations of th ...

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Cosmic inflation, Cosmic inflation - Motivation, Cosmic inflation - Observations, Cosmic inflation - Extensions

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Some believe fruitarianism was the original diet of humankind in the form of Adam and Eve and if they are ever to return to an Eden-like paradise then they will have to go back to simple living, and a holistic approach to health and diet (Isaiah 11:6-9). Some fruitarians only eat the fruit of a plant so that the plant does not have to be killed. For instance when one eats a root vegetable such as a carrot, the whole carrot plant dies. Fruitarians point out that, in nature, eating some types of fruit actually does the parent plant a fa ...

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Fruitarianism, Fruitarianism - Motivation, Fruitarianism - Famous fruitarians, Fruitarianism - Biblical fruitarians, Fruitarianism - Fictional fruitarians, Fruitarianism - Criticism, Fruitarianism - Fruitarian online community

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Extended real number line - Limits. We often wish to describe the behavior of a function f(x), as either the argument x or the function value f(x) get "very big" in some sense. For example, consider the function The graph of this function has a horizontal asymptote of y = 0. Geometrically, as we move farther and farther to the right down the x-axis, the value of 1/x gets closer and closer to 0. This limiting behavior is similar to the limit of a function at a real number, except tha ...

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Extended real number line, Extended real number line - Motivation, Extended real number line - Limits, Extended real number line - Measure and integration, Extended real number line - Order and topological properties, Extended real number line - Arithmetic operations, Extended real number line - Algebraic properties, Extended real number line - Miscellaneous

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The Dirac adjoint is motivated by the need to form well-behaved, measurable quantities out of Dirac spinors. For example, is not a Lorentz scalar, and is not even Hermitian. One source of trouble is that if λ is the spinor representation of a Lorentz transformation, so that then Since the Lorentz group of special relativity is not compact, generally λ will not be unitary, so . Using fixes this problem, i ...

See also:

Dirac adjoint, Dirac adjoint - Motivation, Dirac adjoint - Usage

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Characteristic classes are in an essential way phenomena of cohomology theory — they are contravariant constructions, in the way that a section is a kind of function on a space, and to lead to a contradiction from the existence of a section we do need that variance. In fact cohomology theory grew up after homology and homotopy theory, which are both covariant theories based on mapping into a space; and characteristic class theory in its infancy in the 1930s (as part of obstruction theory) was one major reason wh ...

See also:

Characteristic class, Characteristic class - Definition, Characteristic class - Motivation

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Given a square matrix A, we want to find a polynomial whose roots are precisely the eigenvalues of A. For a diagonal matrix A, the characteristic polynomial is easy to define: if the diagonal entries are a, b, c the characteristic polynomial will be (t − a)(t − b)(t − c)... up to a convention about sign (+ or −). This works because the d ...

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Characteristic polynomial, Characteristic polynomial - Motivation, Characteristic polynomial - Formal definition, Characteristic polynomial - Example, Characteristic polynomial - Properties

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Consider the complex logarithm function log z. It is defined as the complex number w such that Now, for example, say we wish to find log i. This means we want to solve for w. Clearly iπ/2 is a solution. But is it the only solution? Of course, there are other solutions, which is evidenced by considering the position of i in the Argand plane and thus its argument. We can rotate anticlockwise π/2 radians from 1 to reach i initially, but if we rotate further an ...

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Principal value, Principal value - Motivation, Principal value - General case, Principal value - Principal values of standard functions

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The traditional approach to multi-threaded programming is to use locks to synchronize access to shared resources. Synchronization primitives such as mutexes, semaphores, and critical sections are all mechanisms by which a programmer can ensure that certain sections of code do not execute concurrently if doing so would corrupt shared memory structures. If one thread attempts to acquire a lock that is already held by an ...

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Non-blocking synchronization, Non-blocking synchronization - Motivation, Non-blocking synchronization - Implementation, Non-blocking synchronization - Wait-freedom, Non-blocking synchronization - Lock-freedom, Non-blocking synchronization - Obstruction-freedom, Non-blocking synchronization - Resources

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