Talk:Bilinear form

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Mathematics rating:	Start Class	Mid Priority	Field: Algebra
Please update this rating as the article progresses, or if the rating is inaccurate. Click to show/hide comments. Please add to or update the comments to suggest improvements to the article. refs needed for B class. --Cronholm144 02:17, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

there should be either here or at quadratic form a statement about when a bilinear form coincides with the bilinear form associated to the quadratic form associated to the bilinear form, i.e.

B => Q(x) = B(x,x) => B'(x,y) = 1/2( Q( x+y )-Q(x)-Q(y) ) ?=? B(x,y)

and/or the analogue in the complex case with the longer 1/4 (Q(x+iy) +/- Q(x-iy) ...) formula . — MFH: Talk 22:11, 21 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Contents 1 reflexivity and skew symmetric versus alternating 2 removed symmetric bilinear form redirect 3 removed comment about A being symmetric 4 Why "Form"

[edit] reflexivity and skew symmetric versus alternating

Following the 'be bold' policy I just went through with it and changed the article. While I think everything was correct I found it to be confusing. First of all there was no mention of reflexivity, also the section was called symmetry while it did not only discuss symmetric forms. When I changed the title I wanted to emphasize the reason for discussing these two kinds : alternating and symmetric. However, I can imagine some people disagree with me now. Evilbu 19:16, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] removed symmetric bilinear form redirect

I understand why there was a redirect yet i still removed it. Certain things like orthogonal polarities, orthogonal basisses (sylvesters's inertia law) had to be explained thoroughly in a new article I think. However I agree that I am explaining matrix representations there (which applies to all bilinear forms) and the definition of , which applies to all reflexive forms. All comments are welcome.

[edit] removed comment about A being symmetric

There was a comment in the first subsection stating A is symmetric due to the symmetry of the bilinear form. However, this is confusing, as you can certainly have a non-symmetric bilinear form (hence a non-symmetric matrix A). AlyoshaK 13:03, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Why "Form"

What is the history of the use of the word "form" for this topic? It seems somewhat arbitrary. —Ben FrantzDale 14:42, 26 October 2006 (UTC)