Definition
For the formal definition, let X and Y be sets and let f be a function from X to Y. Elements x1 and x2 of X are equivalent if f(x1) and f(x2) are equal, i.e. are the same element of Y. The kernel of f is the equivalence relation thus defined.
The kernel, in the equivalence-relation sense, may be denoted "=f" (or a variation) and may be defined symbolically as
Read more about this topic: Kernel (set Theory)
Famous quotes containing the word definition:
“One definition of man is an intelligence served by organs.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (18031882)
“Although there is no universal agreement as to a definition of life, its biological manifestations are generally considered to be organization, metabolism, growth, irritability, adaptation, and reproduction.”
—The Columbia Encyclopedia, Fifth Edition, the first sentence of the article on life (based on wording in the First Edition, 1935)
“Scientific method is the way to truth, but it affords, even in
principle, no unique definition of truth. Any so-called pragmatic
definition of truth is doomed to failure equally.”
—Willard Van Orman Quine (b. 1908)