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Domain


The term domain has (at least) three different meanings in mathematics.

DomainRange

The term domain is most commonly used to describe the set of values D for which a function (map, transformation, etc.) is defined. For example, a function f(x) that is defined for real values x in R has domain R, and is sometimes said to be "a function over the reals." The set of values to which D is sent by the function is then called the range.

Unfortunately, the term range is sometimes used in probability theory to mean domain (Feller 1968, p. 200; Evans et al. 2000). To confuse matters even more, the term "range" is more commonly used in statistics to refer to a completely different quantity, known in this work as the statistical range. As if this wasn't confusing enough, Evans et al. (2000, p. 6) define a probability domain to be the range of the distribution function of a probability density function.

The domain (in its usual established mathematical sense) of a probability density function (and therefore also its distribution function) is available with the undocumented Wolfram Language command DistributionDomain[dist].

The meaning of "domain" in topology is a connected open set.

Another meaning of "domain" is what is more properly known as an integral domain, i.e., a ring that is commutative under multiplication, has an identity element, and no divisors of 0.


See also

Codomain, Connected Set, Integral Domain, Map, Natural Domain, One-to-One, Over, Probability Domain, Range, Reinhardt Domain, Statistical Range, Surjection Explore this topic in the MathWorld classroom

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References

Evans, M.; Hastings, N.; and Peacock, B. Statistical Distributions, 3rd ed. New York: Wiley, 2000.Feller, W. An Introduction to Probability Theory and Its Applications, Vol. 1, 3rd ed. New York: Wiley, 1968.Krantz, S. G. Handbook of Complex Variables. Boston, MA: Birkhäuser, p. 76, 1999.

Referenced on Wolfram|Alpha

Domain

Cite this as:

Weisstein, Eric W. "Domain." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Web Resource. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/Domain.html

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