Focal Point

Focal point may refer to:

  • Focus (optics), the point at which initially collimated rays of light meet after passing through a convex lens, or reflecting from a concave mirror
  • In Fine art, a Focal Point focuses specifically on a point of interest which makes a canvas unique. (e.g. Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer)
  • In mathematics:
    • Focus (geometry), a special point used in describing conic sections
    • Focal point is a Critical point of a distance function
  • In an antenna (electronics):
    • The driven element, directly connected to the transmission line or source
    • The passive radiator, a conductive element which is not electrically connected to anything else
  • In game theory, a Focal point is an equilibrium more likely to be chosen by the players because it seems special, natural or relevant to them
  • In computer programs, Telelogic Focal Point is a configurable Web-based decision support platform for requirements management, product management and project portfolio management.
  • Focal Point (album), a 1976 studio album by McCoy Tyner
  • Focal Point, an imprint of National Geographic
  • In business, the person or organization responsible for the coordination of activities and tasks among several groups or networks
  • Among science fiction fanzines, a fanzine which in its era was central to the fannish culture of the day
  • In IT service management, the person or entity responsible for coordinating service delivery and acting as an escalation point for service delivery failures

Famous quotes containing the word point:

    “If mothers are told to do this or that or the other,... they lose touch with their own ability to act.... Only too easily they feel incompetent. If they must look up everything in a book, they are always too late even when they do the right things, because the right things have to be done immediately. It is only possible to act at exactly the right point when the action is intuitive or by instinct, as we say. The mind can be brought to bear on the problem afterwards.”
    —D.W. Winnicott (20th century)