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Elementary Form
In mathematics, an elementary function is a function of a single variable (typically real or complex) that is defined as taking sums, products, roots and compositions of finitely many polynomial, rational, trigonometric, hyperbolic, and exponential functions, including possibly their inverse functions (e.g., arcsin, log, or ''x''1/''n''). All elementary functions are continuous on their domains. Elementary functions were introduced by Joseph Liouville in a series of papers from 1833 to 1841. An algebraic treatment of elementary functions was started by Joseph Fels Ritt in the 1930s. Examples Basic examples Elementary functions of a single variable include: * Constant functions: 2,\ \pi,\ e, etc. * Rational powers of : x,\ x^2,\ \sqrt\ (x^\frac),\ x^\frac, etc. * more general algebraic functions: f(x) satisfying f(x)^5+f(x)+x=0, which is not expressible through n-th roots or rational powers of alone * Exponential functions: e^x, \ a^x * Logarithms: \ln x, \ \log_a x ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics with the major subdisciplines of number theory, algebra, geometry, and analysis, respectively. There is no general consensus among mathematicians about a common definition for their academic discipline. Most mathematical activity involves the discovery of properties of abstract objects and the use of pure reason to prove them. These objects consist of either abstractions from nature orin modern mathematicsentities that are stipulated to have certain properties, called axioms. A ''proof'' consists of a succession of applications of deductive rules to already established results. These results include previously proved theorems, axioms, andin case of abstraction from naturesome basic properties that are considered true starting points of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Natural Logarithm
The natural logarithm of a number is its logarithm to the base of the mathematical constant , which is an irrational and transcendental number approximately equal to . The natural logarithm of is generally written as , , or sometimes, if the base is implicit, simply . Parentheses are sometimes added for clarity, giving , , or . This is done particularly when the argument to the logarithm is not a single symbol, so as to prevent ambiguity. The natural logarithm of is the power to which would have to be raised to equal . For example, is , because . The natural logarithm of itself, , is , because , while the natural logarithm of is , since . The natural logarithm can be defined for any positive real number as the area under the curve from to (with the area being negative when ). The simplicity of this definition, which is matched in many other formulas involving the natural logarithm, leads to the term "natural". The definition of the natural logarithm can then b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Multivalued Function
In mathematics, a multivalued function, also called multifunction, many-valued function, set-valued function, is similar to a function, but may associate several values to each input. More precisely, a multivalued function from a domain to a codomain associates each in to one or more values in ; it is thus a serial binary relation. Some authors allow a multivalued function to have no value for some inputs (in this case a multivalued function is simply a binary relation). However, in some contexts such as in complex analysis (''X'' = ''Y'' = C), authors prefer to mimic function theory as they extend concepts of the ordinary (single-valued) functions. In this context, an ordinary function is often called a single-valued function to avoid confusion. The term ''multivalued function'' originated in complex analysis, from analytic continuation. It often occurs that one knows the value of a complex analytic function f(z) in some neighbourhood of a point z=a. This is the case fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Function Composition
In mathematics, function composition is an operation that takes two functions and , and produces a function such that . In this operation, the function is applied to the result of applying the function to . That is, the functions and are composed to yield a function that maps in domain to in codomain . Intuitively, if is a function of , and is a function of , then is a function of . The resulting ''composite'' function is denoted , defined by for all in . The notation is read as " of ", " after ", " circle ", " round ", " about ", " composed with ", " following ", " then ", or " on ", or "the composition of and ". Intuitively, composing functions is a chaining process in which the output of function feeds the input of function . The composition of functions is a special case of the composition of relations, sometimes also denoted by \circ. As a result, all properties of composition of relations are true of composition of functions, such as the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inverse Hyperbolic Function
In mathematics, the inverse hyperbolic functions are the inverse functions of the hyperbolic functions. For a given value of a hyperbolic function, the corresponding inverse hyperbolic function provides the corresponding hyperbolic angle. The size of the hyperbolic angle is equal to the area of the corresponding hyperbolic sector of the hyperbola , or twice the area of the corresponding sector of the unit hyperbola , just as a circular angle is twice the area of the circular sector of the unit circle. Some authors have called inverse hyperbolic functions "area functions" to realize the hyperbolic angles. Hyperbolic functions occur in the calculations of angles and distances in hyperbolic geometry. It also occurs in the solutions of many linear differential equations (such as the equation defining a catenary), cubic equations, and Laplace's equation in Cartesian coordinates. Laplace's equations are important in many areas of physics, including electromagnetic theory, heat trans ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hyperbolic Function
In mathematics, hyperbolic functions are analogues of the ordinary trigonometric functions, but defined using the hyperbola rather than the circle. Just as the points form a circle with a unit radius, the points form the right half of the unit hyperbola. Also, similarly to how the derivatives of and are and respectively, the derivatives of and are and respectively. Hyperbolic functions occur in the calculations of angles and distances in hyperbolic geometry. They also occur in the solutions of many linear differential equations (such as the equation defining a catenary), cubic equations, and Laplace's equation in Cartesian coordinates. Laplace's equations are important in many areas of physics, including electromagnetic theory, heat transfer, fluid dynamics, and special relativity. The basic hyperbolic functions are: * hyperbolic sine "" (), * hyperbolic cosine "" (),''Collins Concise Dictionary'', p. 328 from which are derived: * hyperbolic tangent "" (), * hyp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inverse Trigonometric Function
In mathematics, the inverse trigonometric functions (occasionally also called arcus functions, antitrigonometric functions or cyclometric functions) are the inverse functions of the trigonometric functions (with suitably restricted domains). Specifically, they are the inverses of the sine, cosine, tangent, cotangent, secant, and cosecant functions, and are used to obtain an angle from any of the angle's trigonometric ratios. Inverse trigonometric functions are widely used in engineering, navigation, physics, and geometry. Notation Several notations for the inverse trigonometric functions exist. The most common convention is to name inverse trigonometric functions using an arc- prefix: , , , etc. (This convention is used throughout this article.) This notation arises from the following geometric relationships: when measuring in radians, an angle of ''θ'' radians will correspond to an arc whose length is ''rθ'', where ''r'' is the radius of the circle. Thus in the unit circ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trigonometric Function
In mathematics, the trigonometric functions (also called circular functions, angle functions or goniometric functions) are real functions which relate an angle of a right-angled triangle to ratios of two side lengths. They are widely used in all sciences that are related to geometry, such as navigation, solid mechanics, celestial mechanics, geodesy, and many others. They are among the simplest periodic functions, and as such are also widely used for studying periodic phenomena through Fourier analysis. The trigonometric functions most widely used in modern mathematics are the sine, the cosine, and the tangent. Their reciprocals are respectively the cosecant, the secant, and the cotangent, which are less used. Each of these six trigonometric functions has a corresponding inverse function, and an analog among the hyperbolic functions. The oldest definitions of trigonometric functions, related to right-angle triangles, define them only for acute angles. To extend the sine and co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Logarithm
In mathematics, the logarithm is the inverse function to exponentiation. That means the logarithm of a number to the base is the exponent to which must be raised, to produce . For example, since , the ''logarithm base'' 10 of is , or . The logarithm of to ''base'' is denoted as , or without parentheses, , or even without the explicit base, , when no confusion is possible, or when the base does not matter such as in big O notation. The logarithm base is called the decimal or common logarithm and is commonly used in science and engineering. The natural logarithm has the number as its base; its use is widespread in mathematics and physics, because of its very simple derivative. The binary logarithm uses base and is frequently used in computer science. Logarithms were introduced by John Napier in 1614 as a means of simplifying calculations. They were rapidly adopted by navigators, scientists, engineers, surveyors and others to perform high-a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Exponentiation
Exponentiation is a mathematical operation, written as , involving two numbers, the '' base'' and the ''exponent'' or ''power'' , and pronounced as " (raised) to the (power of) ". When is a positive integer, exponentiation corresponds to repeated multiplication of the base: that is, is the product of multiplying bases: b^n = \underbrace_. The exponent is usually shown as a superscript to the right of the base. In that case, is called "''b'' raised to the ''n''th power", "''b'' (raised) to the power of ''n''", "the ''n''th power of ''b''", "''b'' to the ''n''th power", or most briefly as "''b'' to the ''n''th". Starting from the basic fact stated above that, for any positive integer n, b^n is n occurrences of b all multiplied by each other, several other properties of exponentiation directly follow. In particular: \begin b^ & = \underbrace_ \\[1ex] & = \underbrace_ \times \underbrace_ \\[1ex] & = b^n \times b^m \end In other words, when multiplying a base raised to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Constant Function
In mathematics, a constant function is a function whose (output) value is the same for every input value. For example, the function is a constant function because the value of is 4 regardless of the input value (see image). Basic properties As a real-valued function of a real-valued argument, a constant function has the general form or just :Example: The function or just is the specific constant function where the output value is The domain of this function is the set of all real numbers R. The codomain of this function is just . The independent variable ''x'' does not appear on the right side of the function expression and so its value is "vacuously substituted". Namely and so on. No matter what value of ''x'' is input, the output is "2". :Real-world example: A store where every item is sold for the price of 1 dollar. The graph of the constant function is a horizontal line in the plane that passes through the point In the context of a polynomial in one variable ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Fels Ritt
Joseph Fels Ritt (August 23, 1893 – January 5, 1951) was an American mathematician at Columbia University in the early 20th century. He was born and died in New York. After beginning his undergraduate studies at City College of New York, Ritt received his B.A. from George Washington University in 1913. He then earned a doctorate in mathematics from Columbia University in 1917 under the supervision of Edward Kasner. After doing calculations for the war effort in World War I, he joined the Columbia faculty in 1921. He served as department chair from 1942 to 1945, and in 1945 became the Davies Professor of Mathematics.. In 1932, George Washington University honored him with a Doctorate in Science,. and in 1933 he was elected to join the United States National Academy of Sciences. He has 463 academic descendants listed in the Mathematics Genealogy Project, mostly through his student Ellis Kolchin. Ritt was an Invited Speaker with talk ''Elementary functions and their inverses'' at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
