Degrees of Freedom

Degrees of freedom can mean:

  • Degrees of freedom (mechanics), independent displacements and/or rotations that specify the orientation of the body or system
  • Degrees of freedom (physics and chemistry), a term used in explaining dependence on parameters, or the dimensions of a phase space
  • Degrees of freedom (statistics), the number of values in the final calculation of a statistic that are free to vary

Famous quotes containing the words degrees of, degrees and/or freedom:

    Complete courage and absolute cowardice are extremes that very few men fall into. The vast middle space contains all the intermediate kinds and degrees of courage; and these differ as much from one another as men’s faces or their humors do.
    François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)

    Always the laws of light are the same, but the modes and degrees of seeing vary.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    I wish to speak a word for Nature, for absolute freedom and wildness, as contrasted with a freedom and culture merely civil,—to regard man as an inhabitant, or a part and parcel of Nature, rather than as a member of society. I wish to make an extreme statement, if so I may make an emphatic one, for there are enough champions of civilization: the minister and the school committee and every one of you will take care of that.
    Henry David David (1817–1862)