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 planet on which we live is poorly organized, many areas are overpopulated, others are reserved for a few, technology’s potential is only in part realized, and most people are starving.”
    —Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921–1990)

    “The mother’s and father’s attitudes toward the child correspond to the child’s own needs.... Mother has the function of making him secure in life, father has the function of teaching him, guiding him to cope with those problems with which the particular society the child has been born into confronts him.”
    —Erich Fromm (1900–1980)