Talk:Partial function

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If a partial function associates with every element in its codomain precisely one element of its domain, then it is called a total function, or simply a function.

This doesn't sound right to me. I think the words codomain and domain should be swapped. The function described above sounds like a 1:1 function, not an arbitrary total function.

We need a better definition of "total function" Pizza Puzzle

Partial Function from-set contains members not in the domain, i.e. domain is subset of the from-set. Total Function Domain is the entire from-set -Mikael-

alrighty smartyhairsplitterses. What is to domain of a partial function what range is to codomain? (whaddya call {x|f(x) exists}?) Kwantus 2005 June 28 17:23 (UTC)

In my usage, {x|f(x) exists} is the domain of the partial function f. What I don't know a name for is the set X, when f is a partial function from X to Y. This needs to be clearly explained--someone following the link here from Uniformization (set theory) would be confused. --Trovatore 19:12, 6 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Cleanup

I am confused by the grammar in this explanation. It would be nice if somebody could explain the concept in a clearer fashion, perhaps something that would not confuse a non-mathematician. If nobody does so by this weekend, I'll get around to it if I have time. Suggestions? --Kooky 02:19, 20 July 2005 (UTC)

Kooky: Your prayers have been answered (I hope). I'll get right on it. Vonkje 16:21, 1 August 2005 (UTC)
Okay, I reworked the intro, but I'm keeping the to-be-cleaned-up tag 'cuz the rest of this article needs work, namely: 1) The section on Discussion and examples was kept from the original article, although it makes those annoying types of plays on mathwords that had turned me off to Mathematics as a lower-division undergraduate. 2) A modern formal definition like the kind from the MathWorld site will be needed in a new section titled: Formal definition. This would be a nice couple of things for you to do if you are interested. Vonkje 20:47, 1 August 2005 (UTC)


[edit] Total Function

I noticed that total function redirects to partial function. While the article in question does explain what a total function is, I think it is quite confusing to have total function simply redirect here. I'm not sure that creating a page called "total function" would be advisable, perhaps we could rename this to something like Partial vs Total functions, although I think that wording is too cumbersome. Anyone have any suggestions? Grokmoo 17:59, 24 January 2006 (UTC)

I agree it's a little peculiar, but there's plenty of precedent for this sort of thing. I don't think it's worth a whole article. Changing the redirect so it points to function (mathematics) would be defensible; I don't have a strong preference one way or the other for which article it should point to. --Trovatore 20:48, 24 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Merge

This section moved to Talk:function (mathematics)#Merge? where the mergeto template points. CMummert 12:32, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

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