mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

, a continuum structure function (CSF) is defined by Laurence Baxter as a nondecreasing mapping from the unit

hypercube In geometry, a hypercube is an ''n''-dimensional analogue of a square () and a cube (). It is a closed, compact, convex figure whose 1- skeleton consists of groups of opposite parallel line segments aligned in each of the space's dimensions, ...

to the unit interval. It is used by Baxter to help in the

Mathematical model A mathematical model is a description of a system using mathematical concepts and language. The process of developing a mathematical model is termed mathematical modeling. Mathematical models are used in the natural sciences (such as physics, ...

ling of the level of performance of a system in terms of the performance levels of its components.Kim, Chul; Baxter, Laurence A.(1987) Reliability importance for continuum structure functions. ''Journal of Applied Probability'', 24, 779–785

References

* Kim, C., Baxter. L. A. (1987) "Axiomatic characterizations of continuum structure functions", ''Operations Research Letters'', 6 (6), 297–300, . * Probabilistic models Survival analysis {{probability-stub