accuracy problem in calculation

[Grant Edwards]

On 2012-11-08, Chris Angelico <rosuav at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Fri, Nov 9, 2012 at 4:05 AM, Debashish Saha <silideba at gmail.com> wrote:

>> (1500000000+1.00067968)-(1500000000+1.00067961)
>> Out[102]: 2.384185791015625e-07
>>
>> 1.00067968-(1.00067961)
>> Out[103]: 7.000000001866624e-08
>>
>> above i am showing the two different results,though the two outputs
>> should be same if we do it in copy (the lass one is acceptable value).

Then do it the way you did the last one.

Seriously, that's the answer they teach you in numerical analysis
classes.

>> so my question is how to increase the accuracy(windows7(32bit)
>> ,python2.7.2)
>
> Welcome to floating point. You're working with very large and very
> small numbers, and you _will_ lose accuracy.
>
> There are a few options. It's possible that a 64-bit build of Python
> will give you more accuracy,

Pretty doubtful.  64-bit and 32-bit builds on all common OSes and
hardware are both going to use 64-bit IEEE floating point.

> but better would be to separate your huge numbers from your tiny ones
> and work with them separately.

> Alternatively, switch to the Decimal or Fraction types, but be aware
> that your script will probably run a lot slower.

Or admit to yourself that the measurements that produce your input
data just aren't that accurate anyway and forget about it.  :)

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Grant Edwards               grant.b.edwards        Yow! Bo Derek ruined
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