Interval slopes as a numerical abstract domain for floating-point variables

Abstract. The design of embedded control systems is mainly done with model-based tools such as Matlab/Simulink. Numerical simulation is the central technique of development and verification of such tools. Floating-point arithmetic, that is well-known to only provide approximated re-sults, is omnipresent in this activity. In order to validate the behaviors of numerical simulations using abstract interpretation-based static anal-ysis, we present, theoretically and with experiments, a new partially re-lational abstract domain dedicated to floating-point variables. It comes from interval expansion of non-linear functions using slopes and it is able to mimic all the behaviors of the floating-point arithmetic. Hence it is adapted to prove the absence of run-time errors or to analyze the numerical precision of embedded control systems.