pathfunction
nounUK /ˈpɑːθˌfʌŋkʃən/
US /ˈpæθˌfʌŋkʃən/
A pathfunction is a thing that depends on the way you get there, not just where you start and end.
The work you do walking up a hill is a pathfunction because a longer route means more work.
RELATED WORDS
OTHER MEANINGS
2. In physics, a quantity like work or heat whose value changes with the route taken between two states.
Heat and work are pathfunctions, while temperature is a state function.
3. In math, a function defined along a curve or path rather than at a single point.
The pathfunction gave a different value for each curve we traced.
4. A value in computing that depends on the sequence of steps a program takes.
The total time is a pathfunction of how the algorithm runs.