Different results obtained from different computer
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I'm trying to run an iterative loop with only simple operators (multiplication and division) and function 'norm'. But when I run the same file in different computers, the results are varied. Can anyone help me with that please?
Thanks
Xiu
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Accepted Answer
Jan
on 8 Sep 2011
Different computers use different libraries to calculate the square root. Therefore the last significant bit of the calculation can vary after a calculation. An iteration can amplify such small differences.
In addition the rounding direction can be different, some processors can store intermediate values with 80 bit precision, others with 64 bits. I'm not able to reproduce the results of Matlab's ACOS exactly in C, even if I use the same library from FDLIBM.
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Jan
on 9 Sep 2011
@Xiu: If the tiny differences between different computers are amplified such, that the final results are completely different, the algorithm is instable. Then both results are _correct_ in a numerical sense. See also: http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/438-why-are-computational-results-in-matlab-sometimes-different-on-different-machines-and-how-can-i-prev
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