Canonical form

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Generally, in mathematics, a canonical form is a function that is written in the most standard, conventional, and logical way. For example, polynomials are usually written with the terms in descending powers: it is more usual to write x² + x + 30 than x + 30 + x², although the two forms are essentially equivalent.

A canonical form is required to have two essential properties. Every object under consideration must have exactly one canonical form, and two objects that have the same canonical form must be essentially the same.

[edit] See also

• normal form
• canonical form (Boolean algebra)
• Jordan normal form (often called Jordan canonical form)
• The canonical one-form and canonical symplectic form, important in the study of Hamiltonian mechanics and symplectic manifolds.