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Re:Oliver Heaviside Wrote Maxwell’s Equations (2013) by im3w1l on Thursday June 25, 2015 @07:20PM (#9781539)
Heaviside's name hasn't faded entirely. The step function is named after him.
Re:Oliver Heaviside Wrote Maxwell’s Equations (2013) by blevs on Thursday June 25, 2015 @08:17PM (#9781765)
And the Heaviside Method [1] for determining coefficients in partial fraction expansion.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaviside_cover-up_method

Re:Oliver Heaviside Wrote Maxwell’s Equations (2013) by db48x on Thursday June 25, 2015 @07:49PM (#9781653)
As is the Heaviside Layer, which has even made it into popular culture.
Re:Oliver Heaviside Wrote Maxwell’s Equations (2013) by java-man on Thursday June 25, 2015 @10:26PM (#9782171)
Re:Oliver Heaviside Wrote Maxwell’s Equations (2013) by rndn on Thursday June 25, 2015 @09:31PM (#9782009)
Why don't other basic functions (constant, reciprocal, parabola …) actually have a name as well? I.e. why did Heaviside’s name stick with the step function?
Re:Oliver Heaviside Wrote Maxwell’s Equations (2013) by chestervonwinch on Thursday June 25, 2015 @10:20PM (#9782155)
He apparently invented it [1], or at least popularized it via Laplace transforms for solving differential equations.

[1]: http://hsm.stackexchange.com/questions/1984/why-is-the-heavi...

Re:Oliver Heaviside Wrote Maxwell’s Equations (2013) by Gibbon1 on Friday June 26, 2015 @01:15AM (#9782619)
The step function is about techniques for analyzing discontinuous functions. You can create discontinuous functions by multiplying a normal continuous function by the unit step function. Which was at the time a new thing. It took the mathematical community a long time to get comfortable the techniques. Indeed if you take college math they call it the 'unit step function' in order to avoid referring to it as the Heaviside equation, which is what it's called if you take engineering math.

Constants, reciprocals, parabolas have been known since the time of the ancient Greeks or earlier. Classically they are called Conic Sections. There are other types functions that are named after people. Taylor Series and Bessel Functions come to mind (after Brook Taylor and Friedrich Bessel). There are more of course.

Re:Oliver Heaviside Wrote Maxwell’s Equations (2013) by SilasX on Friday June 26, 2015 @01:48AM (#9782684)
Because it's more fitting to give his name to a function that has a "heavy side".
Re:Oliver Heaviside Wrote Maxwell’s Equations (2013) by analog31 on Friday June 26, 2015 @12:45AM (#9782544)
Indeed, and the function has a heavy side. ;-)