An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics

Math.: A constant that appears in the process for obtaining extrema of functions of several variables. Suppose that the function f(x,y) has to be maximized by choice of x and y subject to the constraint that g(x,y)≤ k. The solution can be found by constructing the → Lagrangian function  L(x,y,λ) = f(x,y) + λ[k - g(x,y)], where λ is the Lagrangian multiplier.

See also: → Lagrangian point; → multiplier.