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The Dual Numbers#

Definition: Dual Number

A dual number is an expression of the form

\[ a + b\varepsilon, \]

where \(a, b \in \mathbb{R}\) are real numbers and \(\varepsilon\) is defined such that

\[ \varepsilon^2 = 0 \text{ and } \varepsilon \ne 0. \]

Notation

The set of all dual numbers is usually denoted by \(\mathbb{R}[\varepsilon]\).