Sfääriliselt

Sfääriliselt is an Estonian adverb meaning “in a spherical manner” or “spherically.” It is used to describe actions, distributions, or properties that relate to a sphere or depend only on distance from a central point. In mathematics and physics, the term commonly appears in phrases indicating symmetry or form that remains the same under rotations in three-dimensional space.

Etymology: Sfääriliselt derives from the adjective sfääriline (spherical), which in turn comes from sfäär (sphere) with the derivational suffix -iline and the adverbial ending -lt/-l. The form sfääriliselt is the standard adverb used to express manner or mode.

Mathematical meaning: In geometry and physics, sfääriliselt describes spherical symmetry, where a function f depends only on radial distance r from the origin (f(x) = f(r)). It also describes methods or coordinate systems described as sfäärilised, such as data arranged in sfäärilised koordinaadid (spherical coordinates) with components (r, θ, φ).

Applications: A density that is sfääriliselt uniform on the surface of a sphere; a potential V that varies sfääriliselt with radius only; lighting or shading models using sfääriliselt symmetric assumptions; in astronomy, objects often modeled to first order as sfääriliselt symmetric.

See also: sfääriline geomeetria (spherical geometry), sfäärilised koordinaadid (spherical coordinates), sfääriline sümmeetria (spherical symmetry).