In mathematics, positive definiteness is a property of any object to which a bilinear form or a sesquilinear form may be naturally associated, which is positive-definite. See, in particular:

• Positive-definite bilinear form
• Positive-definite function
• Positive-definite function on a group
• Positive-definite functional
• Positive-definite kernel
• Positive-definite matrix
• Positive-definite quadratic form

References

• Fasshauer, Gregory E. (2011), "Positive definite kernels: Past, present and future" (PDF), Dolomites Research Notes on Approximation, 4: 21–63.
• Stewart, James (1976), "Positive definite functions and generalizations, an historical survey", The Rocky Mountain Journal of Mathematics, 6 (3): 409–434, doi:10.1216/RMJ-1976-6-3-409, MR 0430674.