Definition:Infimum
Disambiguation
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Infimum may refer to:
Also defined as
Some sources refer to the infimum as being the lower bound.
Using this convention, any element less than this is not considered to be a lower bound.
Also known as
Particularly in the field of analysis, the infimum of a set $T$ is often referred to as the greatest lower bound of $T$ and denoted $\map {\mathrm {glb} } T$ or $\map {\mathrm {g.l.b.} } T$.
Some sources refer to the infimum of a set as the infimum on a set.
Some sources refer to the infimum of a set as the meet of the set and use the notation $\bigwedge T$ or $\ds \bigwedge_{y \mathop \in T} y$.
Some sources introduce the notation $\ds \inf_{y \mathop \in T} y$, which may improve clarity in some circumstances.
Some older sources, applying the concept to a (strictly) decreasing real sequence, refer to an infimum as a lower limit.
Also see
- Results about infima can be found here.
Linguistic Note
The plural of infimum is infima, although the (incorrect) form infimums can occasionally be found if you look hard enough.
Sources
- 1989: Ephraim J. Borowski and Jonathan M. Borwein: Dictionary of Mathematics ... (previous) ... (next): greatest lower bound
- 1998: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): greatest lower bound (g.l.b.; infimum)
- 1998: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): infimum (inf)
- 1998: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): partial order
- 2008: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (4th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): greatest lower bound (g.l.b.; infimum)
- 2008: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (4th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): infimum (inf)
- 2008: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (4th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): partial order
- 2014: Christopher Clapham and James Nicholson: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Mathematics (5th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): greatest lower bound
- 2014: Christopher Clapham and James Nicholson: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Mathematics (5th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): infimum (infima)