Concept

Approximation error

Summary
The approximation error in a data value is the discrepancy between an exact value and some approximation to it. This error can be expressed as an absolute error (the numerical amount of the discrepancy) or as a relative error (the absolute error divided by the data value). An approximation error can occur for a variety of reasons, among them a computing machine precision or measurement error (e.g. the length of a piece of paper is 4.53 cm but the ruler only allows you to estimate it to the nearest 0.1 cm, so you measure it as 4.5 cm). In the mathematical field of numerical analysis, the numerical stability of an algorithm indicates the extent to which errors in the input of the algorithm will lead to large errors of the output; numerically stable algorithms to not yield a significant error in output when the input is malformed and vice versa. Formal definition Given some value v and its approximation vapprox, the absolute error is :\epsilon = |v-v_\text{appr
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