Stability

The word stability has a number of technical meanings, all related to the common meaning of the word.

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• In mechanical systems, stability characterizes the result of small perturbations to a system in mechanical equilibrium.
• A special case of mechanical stability is plasma stability.
• In Meteorology stability in the air relates to vertical movements of air parcels.
• On a boat it refers to the righting moment, and the resistance of the boat to capsize.
• In system analysis, control theory, and signal processing, stability characterizes the reaction of a dynamic system to external influences.
• BIBO (Bounded Input, Bounded Output) stability
• Lyapunov stability
• stability of a polynomial
• The concept is also used in "softer" sciences:
• In chemistry, stablility can refer to a chemical isotope in a stable form.
• In ecology, ecological stability can take on any connotaion in a continuum ranging from returning quickly to a previous state to simply not going extinct.
• In sociology, stability refers to social stability.
• In computer science and mathematics, the term has additional meanings.
• In numerical analysis, stability refers to how well an algorithm performs with regard to error in the numerical results: see numerical stability.
• In probability, stability is an important property of certain probability distributions. (See stability (probability).)
• In everyday conversation about computers, stability is the tendency or otherwise of a system or program to crash.

See also homeostasis.

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The term 'stability may be used in any of these contexts as an adjective: as a noun it also means a building designed for horses (see stable).

Related Topics:
Building - Horse - Stable

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