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:

    Rather than have it the principal thing in my son’s mind, I would gladly have him think that the sun went round the earth, and that the stars were so many spangles set in the bright blue firmament.
    Thomas Arnold (1795–1842)

    A mechanism of some kind stands between us and almost every act of our lives.
    Sarah Patton Boyle, U.S. civil rights activist and author. The Desegregated Heart, part 3, ch. 2 (1962)