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:

    There are three principal means of acquiring knowledge available to us: observation of nature, reflection, and experimentation. Observation collects facts; reflection combines them; experimentation verifies the result of that combination. Our observation of nature must be diligent, our reflection profound, and our experiments exact. We rarely see these three means combined; and for this reason, creative geniuses are not common.
    Denis Diderot (1713–1784)

    You know that the beginning is the most important part of any work, especially in the case of a young and tender thing; for that is the time at which the character is being framed.
    Plato (5th century B.C.)