V. Kreinovich – författare

This text contains primarily survey articles of actual industrial applications of numerical analysis with automatic result verification and of interval representation of data. Underlying topics include branch and bound algorithms for global optimization, constraint propagation, solution sets of linear systems, hardware and software systems for interval computations, and fuzzy logic. Actual applications described in the book include economic input-output models, quality control in manufacturing design, a computer-assisted proof in quantum mechanics, medical expert systems, and others. A realistic view of interval computations is taken: the articles indicate when and how overestimation and other challenges can be overcome. An introductory chapter explains the content of the papers in terminology accessible to mathematically literate graduate students.

This volume is intended to be used as a textbook for a special topic course in computer science. It addresses contemporary research topics of interest such as intelligent control, genetic algorithms, neural networks, optimization techniques, expert systems, fractals, and computer vision. The work incorporates many new research ideas, and focuses on the role of continuous mathematics.

The input data for data processing algorithms come from measurements and are therefore not precise. It is therefore necessary to estimate the accuracy of the results of data processing. Even for the simplest data processing algorithms, this problem is, however, intractable. This book describes for what classes of problems interval computations (i.e. data processing with automatic results verification) are feasible, and when they are intractable. This knowledge is important for algorithm developers, because it will enable them to concentrate on the classes of problems for which general algorithms are possible.

After the pioneering works by Robbins {1944, 1945) and Choquet (1955), the notation of a set-valued random variable (called a random closed set in literatures) was systematically introduced by Kendall {1974) and Matheron {1975). It is well known that the theory of set-valued random variables is a natural extension of that of general real-valued random variables or random vectors. However, owing to the topological structure of the space of closed sets and special features of set-theoretic operations ( cf. Beer [27]), set-valued random variables have many special properties. This gives new meanings for the classical probability theory. As a result of the development in this area in the past more than 30 years, the theory of set-valued random variables with many applications has become one of new and active branches in probability theory. In practice also, we are often faced with random experiments whose outcomes are not numbers but are expressed in inexact linguistic terms.

The input data for data processing algorithms come from measurements and are hence not precise. We therefore need to estimate the accuracy of the results of data processing. It turns out that even for the simplest data processing algorithms, this problem is, in general, intractable. This book describes for what classes of problems interval computations (i.e. data processing with automatic results verification) are feasible, and when they are intractable. This knowledge is important, e.g. for algorithm developers, because it will enable them to concentrate on the classes of problems for which general algorithms are possible.

Primary Audience for the Book • Specialists in numerical computations who are interested in algorithms with automatic result verification. • Engineers, scientists, and practitioners who desire results with automatic verification and who would therefore benefit from the experience of suc­ cessful applications. • Students in applied mathematics and computer science who want to learn these methods. Goal Of the Book This book contains surveys of applications of interval computations, i. e. , appli­ cations of numerical methods with automatic result verification, that were pre­ sented at an international workshop on the subject in EI Paso, Texas, February 23-25, 1995. The purpose of this book is to disseminate detailed and surveyed information about existing and potential applications of this new growing field. Brief Description of the Papers At the most fundamental level, interval arithmetic operations work with sets: The result of a single arithmetic operation is the set of all possible results as the operands range over the domain. For example, [0. 9,1. 1] + [2. 9,3. 1] = [3. 8,4. 2], where [3. 8,4. 2] = {x + ylx E [0. 9,1. 1] and y E [3. 8,4. 2]}. The power of interval arithmetic comes from the fact that (i) the elementary operations and standard functions can be computed for intervals with formulas and subroutines; and (ii) directed roundings can be used, so that the images of these operations (e. g.

This volume is intended to be used as a textbook for a special topic course in computer science. It addresses contemporary research topics of interest such as intelligent control, genetic algorithms, neural networks, optimization techniques, expert systems, fractals, and computer vision. The work incorporates many new research ideas, and focuses on the role of continuous mathematics. Audience: This book will be valuable to graduate students interested in theoretical computer topics, algorithms, expert systems, neural networks, and software engineering.