Unary function explained

In mathematics, a unary function is a function that takes one argument. A unary operator belongs to a subset of unary functions, in that its codomain coincides with its domain. In contrast, a unary function's domain need not coincide with its range.

Examples

The successor function, denoted

\operatorname{succ}

, is a unary operator. Its domain and codomain are the natural numbers; its definition is as follows:

\begin \operatorname : \quad & \mathbb \rightarrow \mathbb \\ & n \mapsto (n + 1)\end

In some programming languages such as C, executing this operation is denoted by postfixing to the operand, i.e. the use of is equivalent to executing the assignment

n:=\operatorname{succ}(n)

.

Many of the elementary functions are unary functions, including the trigonometric functions, logarithm with a specified base, exponentiation to a particular power or base, and hyperbolic functions.

See also

References