Equation 2 · Part 9 · What a Neural Recording Actually Records
subtraction
subtraction
What this part means
Subtract the following term or group from the preceding one. A leading minus marks a negative quantity.
Its job in the formula
Subtract the following term or group from the preceding one. A leading minus marks a negative quantity.
Full expression→subtraction→Article meaning
The passage around this formula
Start with the most direct measurement available. A metal or silicon electrode placed in the extracellular space senses the potential produced by transmembrane currents in the surrounding tissue. Under the standard volume-conductor treatment, with the medium approximated as homogeneous, isotropic and purely resistive, and each current source treated as a point, the potential at position is a superposition: . Three assumptions are visible in that expression, and all three are approximations rather than facts. The medium is not homogeneous. Conductivity may be frequency-dependent. And the sum runs over every current source in range, not over the neuron of…
Learn the underlying idea
Addition combines quantities; subtraction measures the signed difference between them. Parentheses show what is combined before the rest of the expression is evaluated.
Open the illustrated addition and subtraction in an equation guide →
Sources cited in the article section
These citations provide research context; check each source for the exact claim it supports.