Video Upload Options

In mathematics, an expression is called well-defined or unambiguous if its definition assigns it a unique interpretation or value. Otherwise, the expression is said to be not well-defined, ill-defined or ambiguous. A function is well-defined if it gives the same result when the representation of the input is changed without changing the value of the input. For instance, if f takes real numbers as input, and if f(0.5) does not equal f(1/2) then f is not well-defined (and thus not a function). The term well-defined can also be used to indicate that a logical expression is unambiguous or uncontradictory. A function that is not well-defined is not the same as a function that is undefined. For example, if f(x) = 1/x, then the fact that f(0) is undefined does not mean that the f is not well-defined — but that 0 is simply not in the domain of f.