edustusfunktio
Edustusfunktio, in mathematics and computer science, is a term used in Finnish to describe a representation function. Broadly, it refers to a function that assigns to each element a distinguished representative from its equivalence class under a given relation. Such a function enables the construction of quotient objects and the use of canonical forms.
Formally, let X be a set with an equivalence relation ∼. The quotient set X/∼ consists of the
Examples illustrate the idea. In modular arithmetic modulo n, the function rep_n(x) = x mod n assigns
Existence and uniqueness: a representative function exists under the axiom of choice for arbitrary families of
See also: quotient set, selection function, section of a projection, canonical form, least residue.