Definition:Floor Function

Definition
Let $$x \in \R$$. Then $$\left \lfloor {x} \right \rfloor$$ is defined as:


 * $$\left \lfloor {\cdot} \right \rfloor: \R \to \Z: \left \lfloor {x} \right \rfloor = \sup \left({\left\{{m \in \Z: m \le x}\right\}}\right)$$

That is, $$\left \lfloor {x} \right \rfloor$$ is the greatest integer less than or equal to $$x$$.

Alternatively it can be defined as:
 * $$z = \left \lfloor {x} \right \rfloor \iff z \in \Z \and x \in \left\{{y \in \R: z \le y < z+1}\right\}$$

It immediately follows that:


 * $$\left \lfloor {x} \right \rfloor$$ is an integer;
 * $$x - 1 < \left \lfloor {x} \right \rfloor \le x < \left \lfloor {x} \right \rfloor + 1$$;
 * $$\forall n \in \Z: \left \lfloor {x} \right \rfloor + n = \left \lfloor {x + n} \right \rfloor$$.

This is called the floor function.

Notation
The notation given here was introduced in the 1960's by Kenneth Iverson and popularised by Knuth.

Compare the notation for the ceiling function, which in the context of discrete mathematics is used almost as much.

The older and more usual symbol for this is $$\left[{x}\right]$$, and it is often referred to as the integer part of $$x$$, but there are already enough uses to which square brackets are put.

This function is sometimes called the entier function, from the French for integer.