Principal Part

The principal part at of a function

is the portion of the Laurent series consisting of terms with negative degree. That is,

is the principal part of at . has an essential singularity at, if and only if the principal part is an infinite sum.

Famous quotes containing the words principal and/or part:

    “For me, the principal fact of life is the free mind. For good and evil, man is a free creative spirit. This produces the very queer world we live in, a world in continuous creation and therefore continuous change and insecurity. A perpetually new and lively world, but a dangerous one, full of tragedy and injustice. A world in everlasting conflict between the new idea and the old allegiances, new arts and new inventions against the old establishment.”
    —Joyce Cary (1888–1957)

    “Life is a series of diminishments. Each cessation of an activity either from choice or some other variety of infirmity is a death, a putting to final rest. Each loss, of friend or precious enemy, can be equated with the closing off of a room containing blocks of nerves ... and soon after the closing off the nerves atrophy and that part of oneself, in essence, drops away. The self is lightened, is held on earth by a gram less of mass and will.”
    —Coleman Dowell (1925–1985)