Modal intervals (Q5935455)

The authors present a new interval analysis, the modal interval analysis. The interval extension of real continuous functions is considered. The geometrical semantics of the \((n+1)\)-dimensional real space \(\mathbf R^{n+1}\) is basically defined by the continuous functions \(f\) from \(\mathbf R^{n+1}\) to \(\mathbf R\). The semantic interval functions \(f^{\ast }\) and \(f^{\ast\ast }\) from \(I^{\ast }(\mathbf R^n\)\()\) to \(I^{\ast }(\mathbf R\)\()\), consistently referring to the continuous functions \(f\) from \(\mathbf R^{n+1}\) to \(\mathbf R\), are obtained by translating to modal terms the set-theoretical definition of the poorest interval extension of the real continuous function. The existence of optimal computations for a rational function is shown as well. The main result is the most relevant feature of the modal approach to interval analysis.