Step function: Difference between revisions

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===Variations in the definition===
Sometimes, the intervals are required to be right-open<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://mathworld.wolfram.com/StepFunction.html|title = Step Function}}</ref> or allowed to be singleton.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://mathonline.wikidot.com/step-functions|title = Step Functions - Mathonline}}</ref> The condition that the collection of intervals must be finite is often dropped, especially in school mathematics,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mathwords.com/s/step_function.htm|title=Mathwords: Step Function}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | title=Archived copy | url=https://study.com/academy/lesson/step-function-definition-equation-examples.html {{Bare| URLarchive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150912010951/http://study.com:80/academy/lesson/step-function-definition-equation-examples.html inline| access-date=August2024-12-16 2022| archive-date=2015-09-12}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.varsitytutors.com/hotmath/hotmath_help/topics/step-function|title = Step Function}}</ref> though it must still be [[Locally finite collection|locally finite]], resulting in the definition of piecewise constant functions.
 
==Examples==
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* The [[definite integral]] of a step function is a [[piecewise linear function]].
* The [[Lebesgue integral]] of a step function <math>\textstyle f = \sum_{i=0}^n \alpha_i \chi_{A_i}</math> is <math>\textstyle \int f\,dx = \sum_{i=0}^n \alpha_i \ell(A_i),</math> where <math>\ell(A)</math> is the length of the interval <math>A</math>, and it is assumed here that all intervals <math>A_i</math> have finite length. In fact, this equality (viewed as a definition) can be the first step in constructing the Lebesgue integral.<ref>{{Cite book | author=Weir, Alan J | title=Lebesgue integration and measure | date= 10 May 1973| publisher=Cambridge University Press, 1973 | isbn=0-521-09751-7 |chapter= 3}}</ref>
* A [[discrete random variable]] is sometimes defined as a [[random variable]] whose [[cumulative distribution function]] is piecewise constant.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Introduction to Probability|last=Bertsekas|author-link=Dimitri_BertsekasDimitri Bertsekas|first=Dimitri P.|date=2002|publisher=Athena Scientific|others=[[John Tsitsiklis|Tsitsiklis, John N.]], Τσιτσικλής, Γιάννης Ν.|isbn=188652940X|___location=Belmont, Mass.|oclc=51441829}}</ref> In this case, it is locally a step function (globally, it may have an infinite number of steps). Usually however, any random variable with only countably many possible values is called a discrete random variable, in this case their cumulative distribution function is not necessarily locally a step function, as infinitely many intervals can accumulate in a finite region.
 
==See also==