本帖最后由 厚积薄发 于 2010-1-26 21:12 编辑 % R4 n" ]: @4 P3 ?9 m% Y7 j/ h+ E. V# P6 o, `' A
In 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. ' H3 P5 k9 q% n4 _- |) n$ W% k2 ~" v, tIn 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. ! e4 ~; `9 R/ l* j9 ETransformations of functions is a somewhat more general concept, see operator.