# Why is a Dirac Delta distribution called continuous when it's obviously discrete? [closed]

After all, it's only non-zero at one point.

## closed as unclear what you're asking by user223391, user147263, Empty, Gyu Eun Lee, Najib IdrissiSep 2 '15 at 8:37

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• Continuous is relative to a pair of topologies. It is continuous as a function from $C^\infty_c$ to $\mathbb{R}$. – Ian Sep 2 '15 at 0:04
• In what context do people call it continuous? – littleO Sep 2 '15 at 0:11
• You should not think of the Dirac delta as a function of a real variable at all; the oft-quoted formula "$\delta(0)=+\infty,\delta(x)=0$ otherwise" has no real mathematical content. The valid arguments of the Dirac delta are test functions, not points. – Ian Sep 2 '15 at 0:21
• Wikipedia is using the term "continuous" very loosely in that example. They are using it just to mean, like, "defined for all real numbers, as opposed to just defined on the integers". (But even that statement is not really correct, because technically the delta function is a distribution.) – littleO Sep 2 '15 at 2:23
• Isn't the constant zero function continuous? – Carl Mummert Sep 2 '15 at 2:24