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Standard utility functions represent ordinal preferences. The expected utility hypothesis imposes limitations on the utility function and makes utility cardinal (though still not comparable across individuals). Although the expected utility hypothesis is standard in economic modelling, it has been found to be violated in psychological experiments.
The utility function u(c) is defined only up to positive affine transformation – in other words, a constant could be added to the value of u(c) for all c, and/or u(c) could be multiplied by a positive constant factor, without affecting the conclusions. An agent is risk-averse if and only if the utility function is concave.
The graph of the function f(x) = √x, made up of half a parabola with a vertical directrix. The principal square root function () = (usually just referred to as the "square root function") is a function that maps the set of nonnegative real numbers onto itself.
Figure 1. Plots of quadratic function y = ax 2 + bx + c, varying each coefficient separately while the other coefficients are fixed (at values a = 1, b = 0, c = 0). A quadratic equation whose coefficients are real numbers can have either zero, one, or two distinct real-valued solutions, also called roots.
Quadratic function: Second degree polynomial, graph is a parabola. Cubic function: Third degree polynomial. Quartic function: Fourth degree polynomial. Quintic function: Fifth degree polynomial. Rational functions: A ratio of two polynomials. nth root. Square root: Yields a number whose square is the given one. Cube root: Yields a number whose ...
Newton's method is one of many known methods of computing square roots. Given a positive number a, the problem of finding a number x such that x 2 = a is equivalent to finding a root of the function f(x) = x 2 − a. The Newton iteration defined by this function is given by
A common utility model, suggested by Daniel Bernoulli, is the logarithmic function U(w) = ln(w) (known as log utility). It is a function of the gambler's total wealth w, and the concept of diminishing marginal utility of money is built into it. The expected utility hypothesis posits that a utility function exists that provides a good criterion ...
Notations expressing that f is a functional square root of g are f = g [1/2] and f = g 1/2 [citation needed] [dubious – discuss], or rather f = g 1/2 (see Iterated function#Fractional_iterates_and_flows,_and_negative_iterates), although this leaves the usual ambiguity with taking the function to that power in the multiplicative sense, just as f ² = f ∘ f can be misinterpreted as x ↦ f(x)².