Hanni Ali wrote: > Hi Bruce, > > Ahh, but I would have thought the precision for the array operation > would be the same no matter which values I wish to sum? The array is > in float64 in all cases. > > I would not have thought altering the type of the integer values would > make any difference as these indices are all below 5 milllion. > > Perhaps I have misunderstood your suggestion could you expand. > > Cheers, > > Hanni > > > Also, increase the numerical precision as that may depend on your > platform especially given the input values above are ints. Numpy has > float128 and int64 that will minimize rounding error. > > Bruce > _______________________________________________ > Numpy-discussion mailing list > Numpy-discussion@scipy.org <mailto:Numpy-discussion@scipy.org> > http://projects.scipy.org/mailman/listinfo/numpy-discussion > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > Numpy-discussion mailing list > Numpy-discussion@scipy.org > http://projects.scipy.org/mailman/listinfo/numpy-discussion > Hi, The main issue is the number of significant digits that you have which is not the number of decimals in your case. So while the numerical difference in the results is in the order about 1.86e-09, the actual difference starts at the 15th significant place. This is expected due to the number of significant digits of a 64-bit number (15-16). With higher precision like float128 you should get about 34 significant digits depending accuracy in all steps (i.e., the numbers must be stored as float128 and the summations done in float128 precision).
Note there is a secondary issue of converting numbers between different types as well as the binary representation of decimal numbers. Also, rather than just simple summing, there are alternative algorithms like Kahan summation algorithm that can minimize errors. Bruce _______________________________________________ Numpy-discussion mailing list Numpy-discussion@scipy.org http://projects.scipy.org/mailman/listinfo/numpy-discussion
