32 bit or 64 bit?

[ram.rachum at gmail.com]

On Jun 16, 12:57 am, "ram.rac... at gmail.com" <ram.rac... at gmail.com>
wrote:
> On Jun 15, 11:30 pm, Christian Heimes <li... at cheimes.de> wrote:
>
>
>
> > ram.rac... at gmail.com wrote:
> > > I have a physical system set up in which a body is supposed to
> > > accelerate and to get very close to lightspeed, while never really
> > > attaining it. After approx. 680 seconds, Python gets stuck and tells
> > > me the object has passed lightspeed. I put the same equations in
> > > Mathematica, again I get the same mistake around 680 seconds. So I
> > > think, I have a problem with my model! Then I pump up the
> > > WorkingPrecision in Mathematica to about 10. I run the same equations
> > > again, and it works! At least for the first 10,000 seconds, the object
> > > does not pass lightspeed.
> > > I concluded that I need Python to work at a higher precision.
>
> > I conclude that your algorithm is numerical wrong. It probably suffers
> > from a rounding error which increases itself in every iteration.
> > Increasing the precision doesn't solve your problem. It's only going to
> > hide the fact that your algorithm doesn't do its job.
>
> > Please don't get me wrong. I don't want to imply that you are an idiot
> > who doesn't know what he is doing. :] Most likely you weren't taught how
> > to write numerical sound algorithms. Let's all blame your school or
> > university. *g*
>
> > Numerics is a complex area and it took me more than a year to learn the
> > basics. Don't be embarrassed!
>
> I'll try to read some. But I used mpmath to pump up the precision in
> my code, and now the problem doesn't happen. So I think it's okay for
> now.

Thanks to all contributors for your advice.

Ram Rachum.