Introduction
The main focus in the interval arithmetic is on the simplest way to calculate upper and lower endpoints for the range of values of a function in one or more variables. These barriers are not necessarily the supremum or infimum, since the precise calculation of those values can be difficult or impossible; it can be shown that that task is in general NP-hard.
Treatment is typically limited to real intervals, so quantities of form
where and are allowed; with one of them infinite we would have an unbounded interval, while with both infinite we would have the extended real number line.
As with traditional calculations with real numbers, simple arithmetic operations and functions on elementary intervals must first be defined. More complicated functions can be calculated from these basic elements.
Read more about this topic: Interval Arithmetic
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