A nondegenerate interval is an interval containing more than one point. In particular, a bounded interval with finite endpoints and
is nondegenerate when
, or equivalently when its
length
is positive. The definition
applies to open intervals, closed
intervals, and half-closed intervals.
By contrast, the closed interval is a degenerate interval. When the endpoints
coincide, the intervals
,
, and
are empty, and hence equal
to
.