Everything about Diagonal totally explained
A
diagonal can refer to a line joining two nonconsecutive vertices of a
polygon or
polyhedron, or in contexts any upward or downward sloping line. The word "diagonal" derives from the
Greek διαγώνιος (
diagonios), used by both Strabo and Euclid to refer to a line connecting two vertices of a
rhombus or
cuboid, and is formed from dia- ("through", "across") and gonia ("angle", related to gony "knee."), later adopted into Latin as diagonus ("slanting line").
In
mathematics, in addition to its geometric meaning, a diagonal is also used in
matrices to refer to a set of entries along a diagonal line.
Non mathematical uses
In
engineering, a
diagonal brace is a beam used to brace a rectangular structure (such as scaffolding) to withstand strong forces pushing into it; although called a diagonal, due to practical considerations diagonal braces are often not connected to the corners of the rectangle.
Diagonal pliers are wire-cutting pliers defined by the cutting edges of the jaws intersects the joint rivet at an angle or "on a diagonal", hence the name.
A
diagonal lashing is a type of lashing used to bind spars or poles together applied so that the lashings cross over the poles at an angle.
In
association football, the
diagonal system of control is the method referees and assistant referees use to position themselves in one of the four quadrants of the pitch.
Polygons
As applied to a
polygon, a
diagonal is a
line segment joining any two non-consecutive vertices. Therefore, a
quadrilateral has two diagonals, joining opposite pairs of vertices. For any
convex polygon, all the diagonals are inside the polygon, but for
re-entrant polygons, some diagonals are outside of the polygon.
Any
n-sided polygon (
n ≥ 3),
convex or
concave, has
»
diagonals, as each vertex has diagonals to all other vertices except itself and the two adjacent vertices, or
n − 3 diagonals.
Matrices
In the case of a
square matrix, the
main or
principal diagonal is the diagonal line of entries running from the top-left to bottom-right corners. For example, the
identity matrix can be defined as having entries of 1 on the main diagonal, and 0s elsewhere. The top-right to bottom-left diagonal is sometimes described as the
minor diagonal or
antidiagonal. A
superdiagonal entry is one that's directly above and to the right of the main diagonal. If otherwise unqualified, it refers to the one adjacent to the main diagonal. Likewise, a
subdiagonal entry is one that's directly below and to the left of the main diagonal. A
diagonal matrix is one whose off-diagonal entries are all zero.
Geometry
By analogy, the
subset of the
Cartesian product X×
X of any set
X with itself, consisting of all pairs (x,x), is called the diagonal, and is the graph of the identity relation. This plays an important part in geometry; for example, the
fixed points of a
mapping F from
X to itself may be obtained by intersecting the graph of
F with the diagonal.
In geometric studies, the idea of intersecting the diagonal
with itself is common, not directly, but by perturbing it within an
equivalence class. This is related at a deep level with the
Euler characteristic and the zeros of
vector fields. For example, the
circle S1 has
Betti numbers 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, and therefore Euler characteristic 0. A geometric way of expressing this is to look at the diagonal on the two-
torus S1xS
1 and observe that it can move
off itself by the small motion (θ, θ) to (θ, θ + ε). In general, the intersection number of the graph of a function with the diagonal may be computed using homology via the
Lefschetz fixed point theorem; the self-intersection of the diagonal is the special case of the identity function.
Further Information
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