RE:Working Precision
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg23928] RE:Working Precision
- From: "Ersek, Ted R" <ErsekTR at navair.navy.mil>
- Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2000 00:57:07 -0400 (EDT)
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
Richard Fateman showed how arbitrary precision arithmetic can produce strange results. I have some more strange behavior. Richard demonstrated that (x == x+1) returns True after evaluating the Do loop below. Well you can also get f[x] defined for lots of values you don't expect! In[1]:= x=1.11111111111111111111; Do[x=2*x-x, {100}]; Clear[f]; f[x]=29; {f[-5.2],f[-2.1],f[4.3],f[8.2]} Out[5]= {f[-5.2],29,29,f[8.2]} ------------------------------- The way to fix this problem is to change the value of $MinPrecision as I do below. Then my definition for (f) doesn't apply to f[-2.1], f[4.3]. This will also ensure (x==x+1) returns False. I haven't checked but a positive value for $MinPrecision might solve the problem Bernd Brandt had with NIntegrate. In[6]:= $MinPrecision=1.0; x=1.11111111111111111111; Do[x=2*x-x, {100}]; Clear[f]; f[x]=29; {f[-5.2],f[-2.1],f[4.3],f[8.2]} Out[11]= {f[-5.2],f[-2.1],f[4.3],f[8.2]} --------------------------- Now consider another example. Below Mathematica thinks (b1) has much better precision than (a1). This doesn't make sense, and Mathematica doesn't do much better using the default setting ($MinPrecision=0.0). In[12]:= a1=Exp[800.0]/Exp[800]; b1=a1+p-1; SetOptions[Precision,Round->False]; (* Precision only has an option in Version 4. *); {Precision[a1],Precision[b1]} Out[15]= {13.0515,25.2788} The result above comes out much better if $MinPrecision is much less than zero. However, I can't understand why (b1) below still has slightly better precision than (a1). In[16]:= $MinPrecision=-Infinity; a1=Exp[800.0]/Exp[800]; b1=a1+p-1; {Precision[a1],Precision[b1]} Out[19]= {13.0502,13.5473} ---------------------------------- Well, ($MinPrecision=-Infinity) allows a better result from the last example, but now the definitions for (f) that I considered earlier are even more strange. In[20]:= x=1.11111111111111111111; Do[x=2*x-x, {100}] ; Clear[f]; f[x]=29; {f[-534.2],f[-2.1],f[4.3],f[815.2]} Out[25]= {29,29,29,29} ---------------------- A very good discussion of arbitrary precision arithmetic can be found in the Help Browser under: Getting Started/Demos Demos Numerics Report (near the bottom) -------------------- Regards, Ted Ersek Download Mathematica tips from http://www.verbeia.com/mathematica/tips/Tricks.html