Concave Function - Definition

Definition

A real-valued function f on an interval (or, more generally, a convex set in vector space) is said to be concave if, for any x and y in the interval and for any t in ,

A function is called strictly concave if

for any t in (0,1) and xy.

For a function f:RR, this definition merely states that for every z between x and y, the point (z, f(z) ) on the graph of f is above the straight line joining the points (x, f(x) ) and (y, f(y) ).

A function f(x) is quasiconcave if the upper contour sets of the function are convex sets.

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