Canonical References

The adjective canonical is applied in many contexts to mean 'according to the canon' – the standard, rule or primary source that is accepted as authoritative for the body of knowledge or literature in that context. In mathematics, canonical example is often used to mean ' archetype'.

Science and technology

Canonical form, a natural unique representation of an object, or a preferred notation for some object

Mathematics

Canonical basis – Basis of a type of algebraic structure
Canonical coordinates, sets of coordinates that can be used to describe a physical system at any given point in time
Canonical map, a morphism that is uniquely defined by its main property
Canonical polyhedron, a polyhedron whose edges are all tangent to a common sphere, whose center is the average of its vertices
Canonical ring, a graded ring associated to an algebraic variety
Canonical injection, in set theory
Canonical representative, in set theory a standard member of each element of a set partition

Differential geometry

Canonical one-form, a special 1-form defined on the cotangent bundle T*M of a manifold M
Canonical symplectic form, the exterior derivative of this form
Canonical vector field, the corresponding special vector field defined on the tangent bundle TM of a manifold M

Physics

Canonical ensemble, in statistical mechanics, is a statistical ensemble representing a probability distribution of microscopic states of the system
Canonical quantum gravity, an attempt to quantize the canonical formulation of general relativity
Canonical stress–energy tensor, a conserved current associated with translations through space and time
Canonical theory, a unified molecular theory of physics, chemistry, and biology
Canonical conjugate variables, pairs of variables mathematically defined in such a way that they become Fourier transform duals
Canonical transformation, in Hamiltonian mechanics
Grand canonical ensemble, a probability distribution of microscopic states for an open system, which is being maintained in thermodynamic equilibrium
Microcanonical ensemble, a theoretical tool used to analyze an isolated thermodynamic system

Computing

Canonical Huffman code, a particular type of Huffman code with unique properties which allow it to be described in a very compact manner
Canonical link element, an HTML element that helps webmasters prevent duplicate content issues by specifying the “canonical” or “preferred” version
Canonical model, a design pattern used to communicate between different data formats
Canonical name record (CNAME record), a type of Domain Name System record
Canonical S-expressions, a binary encoding form of a subset of general S-expression
Canonical XML, a normal form of XML, intended to allow relatively simple comparison of pairs of XML documents
MAC address (formerly canonical number), a unique identifier assigned to network interfaces for communications on the physical network segment
Canonicalization, a process for converting data to canonical form

Chemistry

Canonical form, any of a set of representations of the resonance structure of a molecule each of which contributes to the real structure

Religion

Canonical coronation, an institutional act of the pope to legally crown images venerated by the faithful through a papal bull
Canonical hours, the divisions of the day in terms of periods of fixed prayer at regular intervals.
Canonical law, a set of ordinances and regulations governing a Christian church or community
Canonical texts or biblical canon, the texts accepted as part of the Bible
- Canonical gospel, the four gospels accepted as part of the New Testament
- Canonical criticism, a way of interpreting the Bible that focuses on the text of the biblical canon itself as a finished product

Businesses

Canonical Ltd., software company that develops the Ubuntu operating system