Convex combination

Given three points in a plane as shown in the figure, the point is a convex combination of the three points, while is not.
( is however an affine combination of the three points, as their affine hull is the entire plane.)
Convex combination of two points in a two dimensional vector space as animation in Geogebra with and
Convex combination of three points in a two dimensional vector space as shown in animation with , . When P is inside of the triangle . Otherwise, when P is outside of the triangle, at least one of the is negative.
Convex combination of four points in a three dimensional vector space as animation in Geogebra with and . When P is inside of the tetrahedron . Otherwise, when P is outside of the tetrahedron, at least one of the is negative.
Convex combination of two functions as vectors in a vector space of functions - visualized in Open Source Geogebra with and as the first function a polynomial is defined. A trigonometric function was chosen as the second function. The figure illustrates the convex combination of and as graph in red color.

In convex geometry and vector algebra, a convex combination is a linear combination of points (which can be vectors, scalars, or more generally points in an affine space) where all coefficients are non-negative and sum to 1.[1] In other words, the operation is equivalent to a standard weighted average, but whose weights are expressed as a percent of the total weight, instead of as a fraction of the count of the weights as in a standard weighted average.

  1. ^ Rockafellar, R. Tyrrell (1970), Convex Analysis, Princeton Mathematical Series, vol. 28, Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J., pp. 11–12, MR 0274683