In mathematics, a dual system, dual pair, or duality over a field is a triple consisting of two vector spaces and over and a non-degenerate bilinear map . Duality theory, the study of dual systems, is part of functional analysis. According to Helmut H. Schaefer, "the study of a locally convex space in terms of its dual is the central part of the modern theory of topological vector spaces, for it provides the deepest and most beautiful results of the subject."