Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
In mathematics, a relation denotes some kind of relationship between two objects in a set, which may or may not hold. [1] As an example, " is less than " is a relation on the set of natural numbers ; it holds, for instance, between the values 1 and 3 (denoted as 1 < 3 ), and likewise between 3 and 4 (denoted as 3 < 4 ), but not between the ...
The above definition of a function is essentially that of the founders of calculus, Leibniz, Newton and Euler. However, it cannot be formalized, since there is no mathematical definition of an "assignment". It is only at the end of the 19th century that the first formal definition of a function could be provided, in terms of set theory.
A function [10] is a relation between a set of inputs and a set of permissible outputs with the property that each input is related to exactly one output. An example is the function that relates each real number x to its square x 2. The output of a function f corresponding to an input x is denoted by f(x) (read "f of x").
In mathematics, some functions or groups of functions are important enough to deserve their own names. This is a listing of articles which explain some of these functions in more detail. There is a large theory of special functions which developed out of statistics and mathematical physics.
Implicit function: defined implicitly by a relation between the argument(s) and the value. Piecewise function: is defined by different expressions on different intervals. Computable function: an algorithm can do the job of the function. Also semicomputable function; primitive recursive function; partial recursive function.
Hardy 1908, pp. 26–28 defined a function as a relation between two variables x and y such that "to some values of x at any rate correspond values of y." He neither required the function to be defined for all values of x nor to associate each value of x to a single value of y. This broad definition of a function encompasses more relations than ...
A function is invertible if and only if its converse relation is a function, in which case the converse relation is the inverse function. The converse relation of a function : is the relation defined by the = {(,): = ()}.
Given a function: from a set X (the domain) to a set Y (the codomain), the graph of the function is the set [4] = {(, ()):}, which is a subset of the Cartesian product.In the definition of a function in terms of set theory, it is common to identify a function with its graph, although, formally, a function is formed by the triple consisting of its domain, its codomain and its graph.