Definition:Wedge Product

Definition
Let $\alpha$ and $\beta$ be two differential forms.

Let $\alpha$ be an $x$-form.

Let $\beta$ be a $y$-form.

The wedge product $\alpha \wedge \beta$ is defined as the linear antisymmetric map from $F^x \times F^y \to F^{x + y}$, where $F^a$ is the set of $a$-forms in some manifold.

Let $x_0$ be a specific point in a manifold $X$.

Let $\alpha$ be an $x$-form.

Let $\phi$ be a $1$-form.

Let there be a set of vectors $\mathbf u_1, \mathbf u_2, \dotsc, \mathbf u_x, \mathbf v \in T_{x_0} \left({X}\right)$.

The wedge product is defined as:


 * $\alpha \wedge \phi \left({\mathbf u_1, \mathbf u_2, \dotsc, \mathbf u_x, \mathbf v}\right) := \sum_P \varepsilon \left({P}\right) \alpha \left({P_1}\right) \phi \left({P_2}\right)$

where:
 * $P$ is some permutation of $\mathbf u_1, \mathbf u_2, \dots, \mathbf u_x, \mathbf v$
 * $P_1$ is the first $x$ terms of the permutation $P$
 * $P_2$ the final term of permutation $P$
 * $\varepsilon$ is the permutation symbol of $P$.

The sum is taken over all possible permutations.

This definition extends to wedge products of arbitrary forms through the linearity and antisymmetric conditions.