step function

noun

: a mathematical function of a single real variable that remains constant within each of a series of adjacent intervals but changes in value from one interval to the next

Examples of step function in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Broadcom is one quarter away from the next big step function of earnings. —Jim Cramer, CNBC, 29 Sep. 2024

Something like the SpaceX Starship will be an important step function. —Manasee Wagh, Popular Mechanics, 24 Mar. 2023

The third question is the hard one: is our contribution to society or an addressable market or community a step function. —Fortune Editors, Fortune, 16 Nov. 2022

Then, thinking about the World Cup in 2026 and what’s that going to do in terms of even a greater growth rate, a step function in some ways in terms of the consciousness of this country around the sport. —Andy Larsen, The Salt Lake Tribune, 5 Jan. 2022

There is no sudden step function by which our early primate ancestors turned into apes and those apes turned into humans. —David P. Barash, WSJ, 11 Jan. 2019

Tilden said the company's earnings are under pressure from step function cost increases along with competitors adding capacity in Alaska's markets — primarily Delta Air Lines out of Seattle. —Author: Elwood Brehmer, Anchorage Daily News, 4 Feb. 2018

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1929, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for step function

• adjunction
• compunction
• conjunction
• disjunction
• dysfunction
• injunction
• inunction
• malfunction
• eigenfunction
• multifunction
• heterojunction
• junction