1. (of a set S on which the partial ordering < is defined) An element u with the property that s < u for all s in S. Also u is a least upper bound if, for any other upper bound v, u < v.
Since numerical computing demands the truncation of infinite arithmetic to finite arithmetic, the computation of least upper bounds of real numbers, indeed of any limit, can only be achieved to a machine tolerance, usually defined to be machine precision: the smallest epsilon eps, such that
in computer arithmetic.
See also lower bound.
2. (of a matrix or vector) See array.