This is the first of several papers which grew out of an attempt to provide C (X, Y), the family of all continuous functions mapping a topological space X into a topological space Y, with an algebraic structure. In the event Y has an algebraic structure with which the topological structure is compatible, pointwise operations can be defined on C (X, Y). Indeed, this has been done and has proved extremely fruitful, especially in the case of the ring C (X, R) of all continuous, real-valued functions defined on X [3]. Now, one can provide C(X, Y) with an algebraic structure even in the absence of an algebraic structure on Y. In fact, each continuous function from Y into X determines, in a natural way, a semigroup structure for C(X, Y). To see this, let ƒ be any continuous function from Y into X and for ƒ and g in C(X, Y), define ƒg by each x in X.