map(a, b, x, y, t)
maps [a, b] -> [x, y]
wrt t
in a map function, most importantly we want exactness:
map(a, b, x, y, a) = x
map(a, b, x, y, b) = y
another nice guarantee to have is consistency:
map(a, b, x, x, t) = x
because many algorithms assume going only forward or backward in time, monotonicity: