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An indicator function is a function that shows whether an element of a domain belongs to a certain subset. We all have indicator functions available when we go shopping. For instance, an indicator function that tells us whether shoes are too expensive to buy. Write your personal "expensive shoes" indicator that returns 1 if the price in CHF is too high, and, thus, indicates that you would not buy the shoes, 0 otherwise

User Kaatt
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Final answer:

An indicator function in mathematics can be used to determine if shoes are too expensive by setting a personal price limit and returning 1 if the price exceeds this limit, or 0 otherwise.

Step-by-step explanation:

An indicator function is a mathematical tool that assigns a value of 1 if an element belongs to a specific subset, or 0 otherwise. This concept can be applied to various contexts, including making personal decisions like determining if a pair of shoes is too expensive to purchase. For example, let's define an indicator function for expensive shoes in Swiss Francs (CHF) as follows:

I(price) = 1 if price > X (X being the price limit you establish)

I(price) = 0 if price ≤ X

So, if I set my personal limit for shoe prices at 100 CHF, the indicator function I(price) will return 1 if the shoes cost more than 100 CHF, signaling that I find them too expensive and would not buy them. Conversely, if the shoes cost 100 CHF or less, I(price) will return 0, indicating that the price is acceptable, and I would consider buying the shoes.

User Marko
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