Posted by T.Gracken on November 04, 2002 at 21:18:00:
In Reply to: c'mon, ladies... posted by Joel on November 04, 2002 at 18:47:01:
: : : does anybody else want to kill the person who invented functions. EVIL
You must be kidding.
anyone who understands what a function is knows that they are simple and restricted.
Yet most students believe relations are easier.
Any **iot that has gone through a relationship and survived knows they are difficiult, if not almost impossible to comprehend.
So why do these same (***ons) think functions are worse? ...because they don't realize that a function is a relationship in which none of the dominating elements has more than one mate.
oh, ...perhaps that's it. most people today see a relationship as acceptable (even if multiple lies are involved) but a function (such as being true to ones word) as difficult.
in math (as in real life; whether you comprehend or not) a relation is ANY set of ordered pair. that is, one thing mathched (or mated) to another thing; the things being refered to as 'elements'.
a function is a RELATION in which no two (distinct [that means different]) pair have the same first element.
The DOMAIN (dominant variable) of a relation is nothing more than the set (collection) of first elements.
The RANGE (mate variable) of a relation is nothing more than the set of mates (second elements).
It really is easy if you know a couple definitions!