Support (mathematics)

In mathematics, the support of a real-valuedfunction${\displaystyle f}$ is the subset of the function's domain consisting of those elements that are not mapped to zero. If the domain of ${\displaystyle f}$ is a topological space, then the support of ${\displaystyle f}$ is instead defined as the smallest closed set containing all points not mapped to zero. This concept is used widely in mathematical analysis.