Projection factors and generalized real and complex Pythagorean theorems (Q2194014): Difference between revisions

Pythagoras' theorem has many \(n\)-dimensional extensions, one of them, for example, to a simplex with perpendicular edges \(OP_1,\dots,OP_n\) that relates the \((n-1)\)-dimensional contents \(A, A_1,\dots,A_n\) of bounded simplices to opposite vertices \(O,A_1,\dots,A_n\) by \(A^2=A_1^2+\dots +A_n^2\), or another to subspaces \(V\) of a real or complex inner product space \(X\) and orthogonal projections of a Lebesgue measurable subset \(S\subset V\). For the latter case, the author proves generalized Pythagorean theorems using projection factors. Namely, for \(\dim V=p\), a multi-index \(I=(i_1,\dots,i_q)\) and the orthogonal projection \(S_I\) of \(S\) on the coordinate subspace \(V_I\), one of the results states that \[|S|_p^2=\sum_{I}|S_I|_p^2 \quad \text{in the real case}, \] and \[|S|_{2p}=\sum_{I}|S_I|_{2p} \quad \text{in the complex case},\] where \(|\cdot|_m\) is the \(m\)-dimensional Lebesgue measure. The author remarks that projection factors have connections to quantum theory and that they solve the probability problem of Everettian quantum mechanics. The paper concludes with two appendices about links with Clifford's geometric algebra and properties of projection factors.