Let n be a positive integer. We give an elementary construction for the nth variation, Vn(f), of a real valued continuous function f and prove an analogue of the classical Jordan decomposition theorem. In fact, let C[0, 1] denote the real valued continuous functions on the closed unit interval, let An denote the semi-algebra of non-negative functions in C[0, 1] whose first n differences are non-negative, and let Sn denote the difference algebra An - An. We show that Sn is precisely that subset of C[0, 1] on which Vn(f)<∞. (Theorem 1).