Fermat's principle

专有名词
中文释义

英文释义

专有名词
  1. The principle, which links geometrical optics (or "ray optics") with wave optics, that the path traversed by a ray between two given points is: (in the original "strong" formulation) the one that takes the least time, or (in a weaker but more general formulation) one that takes a time that is "stationary" with respect to variations of the path (so that, loosely speaking, a small change in the ray path entails a very small change in the traversal time).
    — But we now see that, if we use Fermat's principle, a fundamental result of any wave theory, and combine it with de Broglie's assumption about the relation between momentum and wavelength, we are led at once to the principle of least action.

词源

First proposed by French mathematician Pierre de Fermat in 1662.
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