Potential Function

The term potential function may refer to:

  • A mathematical function whose values are a physical potential.
  • The class of functions known as harmonic functions, which are the topic of study in potential theory.
  • The potential function of a potential game.
  • A function used in the potential method of amortized analysis to describe an investment of resources by past operations that can be used by future operations.

Famous quotes containing the words potential and/or function:

    “Laughing at someone else is an excellent way of learning how to laugh at oneself; and questioning what seem to be the absurd beliefs of another group is a good way of recognizing the potential absurdity of many of one’s own cherished beliefs.”
    —Gore Vidal (b. 1925)

    “The intension of a proposition comprises whatever the proposition entails: and it includes nothing else.... The connotation or intension of a function comprises all that attribution of this predicate to anything entails as also predicable to that thing.”
    —Clarence Lewis (1883–1964)