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1/T errors

• To: mathgroup at yoda.physics.unc.edu
• Subject: 1/T errors
• From: Paul.Shand at uni.edu (Paul M. Shand)
• Date: Tue, 31 May 1994 17:02:59 -0500 (CDT)

Hello Mathgroup.

I have a function f of the type (Exp[b/T]/Exp[c/T]), where b and c are
complicated functions consisting of sums over several parameters, but is
not of primary interest here. The problem is the following. I wish to
obtain values of the function f at small values of T. For example, for T =
0.05 and T = 0.03, Mathematica gives me a reasonable answer in a reasonable
amount of time (the times required for the calculation are approximately
the same).

 For T = 0.02, however, Mathematica gives a ridiculous number for the
answer (10^9000). Also, the time taken to get that answer is about twice as
large as before. The answer should be of the order of 5. I am probably
running into problems with big number arithmetic, but I am not sure how to
get around this. It would be nice if I could at least get a reasonable
value for T=0.01. What can I do? I have Mathematica 2.2 Enhanced for Mac.
Thanks.  

Paul Shand
Physics Department
University of Northern Iowa
shand at cobra.uni.edu