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infimum

infimum

1 9.9
The largest number that is not greater than any number in a group of numbers
  • noun
  • /ɪnˈfɪməm/
  • Specialized
: ínfimo
  • To find the infimum of the function, we must analyze all its possible lower bounds.

Examples

  • If if you have had analysis, a course on mathematical analysis, then you know what in infimum and supremum mean.

  • Thus, the infimum over the individual probabilities of GRSE for all possible configurations is also strictly larger than zero.

    Academic text (2018)
  • So now I consider infimum of both sides.

  • So therefore that infimum is always non negative.

  • Where the infimum is over all distributions.

    Blog text (27)
  • Combining the non-zero infimum with the linearly growing number of independent realizations, the probability that there is no global reciprocal sign epistasis at all is at most a value smaller than 1 taken to the power of a non-zero fraction of L.

    Academic text (2018)
  • In mathematics, the infimum of a set is the largest value that does not exceed any of the set's elements.

  • The infimum of the sequence is essential for determining the limit in calculus.

Synonyms

inf
vsinfimum
  • Specialized
1 9.9

The largest number that is less than or equal to all numbers in a set

is the full formal term rather than the abbreviated written form

Surface Forms

infimum singular
infima plural

Etymology

Infimum comes from the Latin infimus, which means 'lowest', and is related to inferior, meaning 'lower'. So infimum is a handy name for the 'lowest' limit of a group of numbers: the greatest value that is still at or below every number, even if that value is not actually in the group.