本帖最后由 厚积薄发 于 2010-1-26 21:12 编辑 ' h5 k2 d7 c: F% Q) d1 h7 | % f# C2 P( U0 F1 ?8 h* pIn mathematics, a functional is traditionally a map from a vector space to the field underlying the vector space, which is usually the real numbers. In other words, it is a function that takes a vector as its argument or input and returns a scalar. Its use goes back to the calculus of variations where one searches for a function which minimizes a certain functional. A particularly important application in physics is to search for a state of a system which minimizes the energy functional. & P# _8 K9 ~) W( ^$ y) Y7 Y8 aIn functional analysis, the functional is also used in a broader sense as a mapping from an arbitrary vector space into the underlying scalar field (usually, real or complex numbers). A special kind of such functionals, linear functionals, gives rise to the study of dual spaces. 6 R0 y& _7 M1 V" f; cTransformations of functions is a somewhat more general concept, see operator.