characteristic function

noun Mathematics.

1. a function defined on a given set, having value 1 for every element of the set and value 0 for every element not contained in the set.
2. characteristic polynomial.

noun

1. maths a function that assigns the value 1 to the members of a given set and the value 0 to its nonmembers
2. statistics a function derived from the probability distribution function that enables the distribution of the sum of given random variables to be analysed