Definition:Smooth Path/Real Cartesian Space

Definition
Let $\R^n$ be a real cartesian space of $n$ dimensions.

Let $\left[{a \,.\,.\, b}\right]$ be a closed real interval.

Let $\rho: \left[{a \,.\,.\, b}\right] \to \R^n$ be a path in $\R^n$.

That is, let $\rho$ be a continuous real-valued function from $\left[{a \,.\,.\, b}\right]$ to $\R^n$.

For each $k \in \left\{ {1, 2, \ldots, n}\right\}$, define the real function $\rho_k: \left[{a \,.\,.\, b}\right] \to \R$ by:


 * $\forall t \in \left[{a \,.\,.\, b}\right]: \rho_k \left({t}\right) = \pr_k \left({\rho \left({t}\right)}\right)$

where $\pr_k$ denotes the $k$th projection from the image $\operatorname{Im} \left({\rho}\right)$ of $\rho$ to $\R$.

Then $\rho$ is a smooth path (in $\R^n$) :


 * $(1): \quad$ all of $\pr_k$ are continuously differentiable


 * $(2): \quad$ for all $t \in \left[{a \,.\,.\, b}\right]$, at least one $\rho_k' \left({t}\right) \ne 0$, where $\rho_k'$ denotes the derivative of $\rho_k$ $t$.

Also see

 * Definition:Derivative of Smooth Path in Real Cartesian Space