MathGroup Archive 2003

[Date Index] [Thread Index] [Author Index]

Search the Archive

RE: Displaying many digits

  • To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
  • Subject: [mg40954] RE: [mg40933] Displaying many digits
  • From: "David Park" <djmp at earthlink.net>
  • Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2003 08:05:55 -0400 (EDT)
  • Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com

Stepan,

The following calculated to machine precision but only displayed 6 places.

N[BesselJ[1, 3.], 20]
0.339059

Mathematica actually calculated 16 places internally but only displayed 6
places. To display more places you should use NumberForm, not N.

NumberForm[BesselJ[1, 3.0], 16]
0.3390589585259365

You can also change the number of displayed digits using the Option
Inspector. But we are still in machine precision, which is usually 16
places.

The purpose of N is to convert EXACT expressions to approximate number form.
So if you used 3 (EXACT) instead of 3.0 (APPROXIMATE) you can get 20 places.

N[BesselJ[1, 3], 20]
0.33905895852593645893

But, you say, I don't want to plug exact numbers into BesselJ. Then you can
use NumberForm and specify the precision of the approximate number with the
number mark (`) and a precision. (Otherwise Mathematica will revert to
machine precision.)

BesselJ[1, 3.0`21]
0.33905895852593645893

You could also use SetPrecision

BesselJ[1, SetPrecision[3., 21]]
0.33905895852593645893

See Section 3.1.4 Numerical Precision in The Mathematica Book


David Park
djmp at earthlink.net
http://home.earthlink.net/~djmp/


From: Stepan Yakovenko [mailto:yakovenko at ngs.ru]
To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net

HI!

  And what if I want to see many BesselJ's digits ?

In[2]:= N[BesselJ[1,3.],20]
Out[2]= 0.339059

--
Best regards,
 Stepan                          mailto:yakovenko at ngs.ru




  • Prev by Date: NKS 2003: Conference & Minicourse Reminder
  • Next by Date: Please Help With a Module
  • Previous by thread: Re: Displaying many digits
  • Next by thread: multithreading