本帖最后由 厚积薄发 于 2010-1-26 21:12 编辑 ) y0 B& n7 z3 u0 A3 H8 s+ H% N5 h) q: h
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.9 y% N, s7 S) K6 S( l. X# i" Z1 m! k
In 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.3 a6 w5 p" @* H2 i6 B2 y! t
Transformations of functions is a somewhat more general concept, see operator.