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  "body": "\n## Summary\n\nAn $m$-dimensional current is a continuous linear functional on the smooth compactly supported [[differential $m$-forms|0E3G0GRPZ6]] of an open set of $\\R^n$.\nCurrents generalise oriented surfaces, in the way that distributions generalise functions.\nThey carry a boundary operator and a notion of mass, and limits of surfaces of bounded area and boundary length exist among them.\nThis makes currents a main tool for the Plateau problem and other minimisation problems in geometric measure theory.\n\n## Explanations\n\n### L1 human\n\nAn oriented surface $S$ can be known by what it does to forms: it sends a form $\\omega$ to the number $\\int_S \\omega$.\nA current is any rule of this kind that is linear and continuous, even when no surface lies behind it.\nFor example, a point $p$ gives the $0$-current that sends a function $f$ to $f(p)$.\nA curve traced twice gives the current \"twice the curve\", and a curve with the opposite orientation gives its negative.\nStokes' theorem becomes the definition of the boundary: the boundary of a current is the current that sends $\\omega$ to the value on $d\\omega$.\n",
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