In mathematics, the lower envelope or pointwise minimum of a finite set of functions is the pointwise minimum of the functions, the function whose value at every point is the minimum of the values of the functions in the given set. The concept of a lower envelope can also be extended to partial functions by taking the minimum only among functions that have values at the point. The upper envelope or pointwise maximum is defined symmetrically. For an infinite set of functions, the same notions may be defined using the infimum in place of the minimum, and the supremum in place of the maximum.