characteristic function
Noun
Meaning
(mathematical analysis) A function which is equal to 1 for all points in its domain which belong to a given set, and is equal to 0 for all points in the domain which do not belong to that given set.
(mathematics, probability theory) A complex function completely defining the probability distribution of a real-valued random variable
Source: en.wiktionary.orgSynonyms
Examples
A real number is computable if and only if the set of natural numbers it represents (when written in binary and viewed as a characteristic function) is computable.
Every decision problem can be converted into the function problem of computing the characteristic function of the set associated to the decision problem.
As long as these states form a representative sample of the whole set of states of the system, the approximate characteristic function is obtained.
For example, a well-known approach to represent a multiple-output Boolean function is to treat its output part as a single many-valued variable and convert it to a single-output characteristic function.
Formally, a characteristic function is seen as: (N,v), where N represents the group of people and is a normal utility.
However, to state this more precisely, an appropriate scaling factor needs to be applied to the argument of the characteristic function.