Simple Function

In the mathematical field of real analysis, a simple function is a (sufficiently 'nice' - see below for the formal definition) real-valued function over a subset of the real line which attains only a finite number of values. Some authors also require simple functions to be measurable; as used in practice, they invariably are.

A basic example of a simple function is the floor function over the half-open interval [1,9), whose only values are {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8}. A more advanced example is the Dirichlet function over the real line, which takes the value 1 if x is rational and 0 otherwise. (Thus the "simple" of "simple function" has a technical meaning somewhat at odds with common language.) Note also that all step functions are simple.

Simple functions are used as a first stage in the development of theories of integration, such as the Lebesgue integral, because it is very easy to create a definition of an integral for a simple function, and also, it is straightforward to approximate more general functions by sequences of simple functions.