Vanish at infinityIn mathematics, a function is said to vanish at infinity if its values approach 0 as the input grows without bounds. There are two different ways to define this with one definition applying to functions defined on normed vector spaces and the other applying to functions defined on locally compact spaces. Aside from this difference, both of these notions correspond to the intuitive notion of adding a point at infinity, and requiring the values of the function to get arbitrarily close to zero as one approaches it.
MollifierIn mathematics, mollifiers (also known as approximations to the identity) are smooth functions with special properties, used for example in distribution theory to create sequences of smooth functions approximating nonsmooth (generalized) functions, via convolution. Intuitively, given a function which is rather irregular, by convolving it with a mollifier the function gets "mollified", that is, its sharp features are smoothed, while still remaining close to the original nonsmooth (generalized) function.
Pathological (mathematics)In mathematics, when a mathematical phenomenon runs counter to some intuition, then the phenomenon is sometimes called pathological. On the other hand, if a phenomenon does not run counter to intuition, it is sometimes called well-behaved. These terms are sometimes useful in mathematical research and teaching, but there is no strict mathematical definition of pathological or well-behaved. A classic example of a pathology is the Weierstrass function, a function that is continuous everywhere but differentiable nowhere.
Schwartz spaceIn mathematics, Schwartz space is the function space of all functions whose derivatives are rapidly decreasing. This space has the important property that the Fourier transform is an automorphism on this space. This property enables one, by duality, to define the Fourier transform for elements in the dual space of , that is, for tempered distributions. A function in the Schwartz space is sometimes called a Schwartz function. Schwartz space is named after French mathematician Laurent Schwartz.
Indicator functionIn mathematics, an indicator function or a characteristic function of a subset of a set is a function that maps elements of the subset to one, and all other elements to zero. That is, if A is a subset of some set X, then if and otherwise, where is a common notation for the indicator function. Other common notations are and The indicator function of A is the Iverson bracket of the property of belonging to A; that is, For example, the Dirichlet function is the indicator function of the rational numbers as a subset of the real numbers.
Kronecker deltaIn mathematics, the Kronecker delta (named after Leopold Kronecker) is a function of two variables, usually just non-negative integers. The function is 1 if the variables are equal, and 0 otherwise: or with use of Iverson brackets: For example, because , whereas because . The Kronecker delta appears naturally in many areas of mathematics, physics, engineering and computer science, as a means of compactly expressing its definition above.
Generalized functionIn mathematics, generalized functions are objects extending the notion of functions. There is more than one recognized theory, for example the theory of distributions. Generalized functions are especially useful in making discontinuous functions more like smooth functions, and describing discrete physical phenomena such as point charges. They are applied extensively, especially in physics and engineering. A common feature of some of the approaches is that they build on operator aspects of everyday, numerical functions.
Cantor distributionThe Cantor distribution is the probability distribution whose cumulative distribution function is the Cantor function. This distribution has neither a probability density function nor a probability mass function, since although its cumulative distribution function is a continuous function, the distribution is not absolutely continuous with respect to Lebesgue measure, nor does it have any point-masses. It is thus neither a discrete nor an absolutely continuous probability distribution, nor is it a mixture of these.
Radon measureIn mathematics (specifically in measure theory), a Radon measure, named after Johann Radon, is a measure on the σ-algebra of Borel sets of a Hausdorff topological space X that is finite on all compact sets, outer regular on all Borel sets, and inner regular on open sets. These conditions guarantee that the measure is "compatible" with the topology of the space, and most measures used in mathematical analysis and in number theory are indeed Radon measures.
ConvolutionIn mathematics (in particular, functional analysis), convolution is a mathematical operation on two functions (f and g) that produces a third function () that expresses how the shape of one is modified by the other. The term convolution refers to both the result function and to the process of computing it. It is defined as the integral of the product of the two functions after one is reflected about the y-axis and shifted. The choice of which function is reflected and shifted before the integral does not change the integral result (see commutativity).
