• The characteristic function of $U$[1] is the function[2]
    \[ \chi _{U}\colon X\to \{ \mathsf{t},\mathsf{f}\} \]

    defined by

    \[ \chi _{U}\webleft (x\webright ) \mathrel {\smash {\overset {\mathclap {\scriptscriptstyle \text{def}}}=}}\begin{cases} \mathsf{true}& \text{if $x\in U$,}\\ \mathsf{false}& \text{if $x\not\in U$} \end{cases} \]

    for each $x\in X$.


Footnotes

[1] Further Terminology: Also called the indicator function of $U$.
[2] Further Notation: Also written $\chi _{X}\webleft (U,-\webright )$ or $\chi _{X}\webleft (-,U\webright )$.

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