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Rounding

The process of approximating a quantity, usually done for convenience or, in the case of numerical computations, of necessity. If rounding is performed on each of a series of numbers in a long computation, round-off errors can become important, especially if division by a small number ever occurs.

See also Shadowing Theorem


References

Wilkinson, J. H. Rounding Errors in Algebraic Processes. New York: Dover, 1994.




© 1996-9 Eric W. Weisstein
1999-05-25