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:

    “The germ of violence is laid bare in the child abuser by the sheer accident of his individual experience ... in a word, to a greater degree than we like to admit, we are all potential child abusers.”
    —F. Gonzalez-Crussi, Mexican professor of pathology, author. “Reflections on Child Abuse,” Notes of an Anatomist (1985)

    “Advocating the mere tolerance of difference between women is the grossest reformism. It is a total denial of the creative function of difference in our lives. Difference must be not merely tolerated, but seen as a fund of necessary polarities between which our creativity can spark like a dialectic.”
    —Audre Lorde (1934–1992)