Sum of squares

In mathematics, statistics and elsewhere, sums of squares occur in a number of contexts:

Statistics

  • For partitioning of variance, see Partition of sums of squares
  • For the "sum of squared deviations", see Least squares
  • For the "sum of squared differences", see Mean squared error
  • For the "sum of squared error", see Residual sum of squares
  • For the "sum of squares due to lack of fit", see Lack-of-fit sum of squares
  • For sums of squares relating to model predictions, see Explained sum of squares
  • For sums of squares relating to observations, see Total sum of squares
  • For sums of squared deviations, see Squared deviations from the mean
  • For modelling involving sums of squares, see Analysis of variance
  • For modelling involving the multivariate generalisation of sums of squares, see Multivariate analysis of variance

Number theory

Algebra, algebraic geometry, and optimization

  • Polynomial SOS, polynomials that are sums of squares of other polynomials
  • The Brahmagupta–Fibonacci identity, representing the product of sums of two squares of polynomials as another sum of squares
  • Hilbert's seventeenth problem on characterizing the polynomials with non-negative values as sums of squares
  • Sum-of-squares optimization, nonlinear programming with polynomial SOS constraints
  • The sum of squared dimensions of a finite group's pairwise nonequivalent complex representations is equal to cardinality of that group.

Euclidean geometry and other inner-product spaces

  • The Pythagorean theorem says that the square on the hypotenuse of a right triangle is equal in area to the sum of the squares on the legs. The sum of squares is not factorable.
  • The squared Euclidean distance between two points, equal to the sum of squares of the differences between their coordinates
  • Heron's formula for the area of a triangle can be re-written as using the sums of squares of a triangle's sides (and the sums of the squares of squares)
  • The British flag theorem for rectangles equates two sums of two squares
  • The parallelogram law equates the sum of the squares of the four sides to the sum of the squares of the diagonals
  • Descartes' theorem for four kissing circles involves sums of squares
  • The sum of the squares of the edges of a rectangular cuboid equals the square of any space diagonal

See also