Boxcar function

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A graphical representation of a boxcar function.
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A graphical representation of a boxcar function.

In mathematics, a boxcar function is any function which is zero over the entire real line except for a single interval where it is equal to a constant, A. The boxcar function can be expressed in terms of the uniform distribution as

\operatorname{boxcar}(x)= (b-a)A\,f(a,b;x),

where f(a,b;x) is the uniform distribution of x for the interval [a, b]. As with most such discontinuous functions, there is a question of the value at the transition points. These values are probably best chosen for each individual application.

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