Dirac delta function



In mathematics, the Dirac delta function, or δ function, is a generalized function, or distribution, on the real number line that is zero everywhere except at zero, with an integral of one over the entire real line. The delta function is sometimes thought of as an infinitely high, infinitely thin spike at the origin, with total area one under the spike, and physically represents the density of an idealized point mass or point charge. It was introduced by theoretical physicist Paul Dirac. In the context of signal processing it is often referred to as the unit impulse symbol (or function). Its discrete analog is the Kronecker delta function, which is usually defined on a discrete domain and takes values 0 and 1.