Talk:Even and odd functions
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
[edit] Origin
Okay, so what *is* the original of the terms even/odd, if not from Taylor series? It's certainly not just "coincidence", as no sane person would keep the term "odd" for the even-powered monomials or vice versa. 216.167.142.196 04:46, 17 November 2005 (UTC)
- Originally, the word "even" comes from "level", while "odd" comes from "sticking out". [1] says that the first instance of "even function" was in 1727 by Leonhard Euler, "odd function" in 1819 ([2]). — Omegatron 21:56, 17 January 2007 (UTC)
Starting with quotients, there is a word missing in the properties.
[edit] Why?
The choice of even and odd seems arbitrary, I've never seen it explained anywhere. Could somebody explain the motivation for defining even and odd functions? --yoshi 05:32, 23 January 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Negative exponents
So is xn an odd function if n is a negative odd integer (even if it's undefined at zero)? — Loadmaster 20:03, 17 January 2007 (UTC)
- Yes. --Spoon! 03:33, 13 March 2007 (UTC)
