Accuracy and error analysis (was Re: [Maxima] primes)
Subject: Accuracy and error analysis (was Re: [Maxima] primes)
From: Albert Reiner
Date: 13 May 2005 15:17:08 +0200
[C Y , Thu, 12 May 2005 08:56:30 -0700 (PDT)]:
> There are other fun issues to think about, such as fundamental limits
> of nature on accuracy of physical quantities (Heisenberg Uncertainty).
> It would be fun to teach Maxima about those things, but I have no idea
> if it could handle them or not.
Oh no, please don't! That is NOT what Heisenberg is about.
BTW, I have always found Mathematica's significance arithmetic
annoying at best, certainly not useful. It gives the inexperienced
user an illusion of security that is really not there. In my courses
I always had fun ``proving'' by a convergent process that the square
root of 4.0000000000000 was 0.. If you really want something like
that, I think you should read about Mma's $MinPrecision etc. and ask
yourself whether that is a price worth paying.
Albert.