Nontrivial

Nontrivial is the opposite of trivial. In contexts where trivial has a formal meaning, nontrivial is its antonym.

It is a term common among communities of engineers and mathematicians, to indicate a statement or theorem that is not obvious or easy to prove.

Examples

• In mathematics, it is often important to find factors of an integer number N. Any number N has four obvious factors: ±1 and ±N. These are called "trivial factors". Any other factor, if any exist, would be called "nontrivial".^[1]

• The matrix equation AX=0, where A is a fixed matrix, X is an unknown vector, and 0 is the zero vector, has an obvious solution X=0. This is called the "trivial solution". If it has other solutions X≠0, they would be called "nontrivial"^[2]

• In the mathematics of group theory, there is a very simple group with just one element in it; this is often called the "trivial group". All other groups, which are more complicated, are called "nontrivial".

• Database theory has a concept called functional dependency, written $X \to Y$. It is obvious that the dependence $X \to Y$ is true if Y is a subset of X, so this type of dependence is called "trivial". All other dependences, which are less obvious, are called "nontrivial".

• The differential equation f''(x) = − λf(x) with boundary conditions f(0) = f(L) = 0 is important in math and physics, for example describing a particle in a box in quantum mechanics, or standing waves on a string. It always has the solution f(x) = 0. This solution is considered obvious and is called the "trivial" solution. In some cases, there may be other solutions (sinusoids), which are called "nontrivial".^[3]

See also

• Trivia
• Trivia (disambiguation)
• Trivial (mathematics)

References

1. ^ Number theory for computing, by Song Y. Yan, p250
2. ^ Mathematics for engineers and scientists, by Alan Jeffrey, p502
3. ^ Introduction to partial differential equations with applications, by Zachmanoglou and Thoe, p309