9/8/2021

Measuring Errors

Son Dao, PhD

Why measure errors?

1) To determine the accuracy of
numerical results.
2) To develop stopping criteria for
iterative algorithms.

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True Error
 Defined as the difference between the true
value in a calculation and the approximate
value found using a numerical method etc.

True Error = True Value – Approximate Value

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Example—True Error
The derivative, f (x) of a function f (x) can be
approximated by the equation,
f ( x  h)  f ( x)
f ' ( x) 
h

If f ( x)  7e and h  0.3
0.5 x

a) Find the approximate value of f ' ( 2)

b) True value of f ' ( 2)
c) True error for part (a)

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Example (cont.)
Solution:
a) For x  2 and h  0.3
f ( 2  0.3)  f ( 2)
f ' (2) 
0 .3
f (2.3)  f (2)

0.3
7e 0.5( 2.3)  7e 0.5( 2)

0.3
22.107  19.028
  10.263
0 .3

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Example (cont.)
Solution:
b) The exact value of f ' ( 2) can be found by using
our knowledge of differential calculus.
f ( x)  7e 0.5 x
f ' ( x )  7  0.5  e 0.5 x
 3.5e 0.5 x
So the true value of f ' ( 2) is
f ' ( 2)  3.5e 0.5( 2 )
 9.5140
True error is calculated as
Et  True Value – Approximate Value
 9.5140  10 .263   0.722

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Relative True Error

 Defined as the ratio between the true
error, and the true value.
True Error
Relative True Error ( t ) =
True Value

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Example—Relative True Error

Following from the previous example for true error,
find the relative true error for f ( x)  7e 0.5 x at f ' (2)
with h  0.3
From the previous example,
Et  0.722
Relative True Error is defined as
True Error
t 
True Value
 0.722
  0.075888
9.5140
as a percentage,
t  0.075888  100%  7.5888 %

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Approximate Error
 What can be done if true values are not
known or are very difficult to obtain?
 Approximate error is defined as the
difference between the present
approximation and the previous
approximation.
Approximate Error ( E a ) = Present Approximation – Previous Approximation

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Example—Approximate Error
For f ( x)  7e 0.5 x at x  2 find the following,
a) f (2) using h  0.3
b) f (2) using h  0.15
c) approximate error for the value of f (2) for part b)
Solution:
a) For x  2 and h  0.3
f ( x  h)  f ( x)
f ' ( x) 
h
f ( 2  0.3)  f ( 2)
f ' ( 2) 
0. 3

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Example (cont.)
Solution: (cont.)
f (2.3)  f (2)

0.3
7e 0.5( 2.3)  7e 0.5( 2)

0.3
22.107  19.028
  10 .263
0.3
b) For x  2 and h  0.15
f (2  0.15)  f (2)
f ' ( 2) 
0.15
f (2.15)  f ( 2)

0.15

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Example (cont.)
Solution: (cont.)
7e 0.5( 2.15)  7e 0.5( 2 )

0.15
20.50  19.028
  9.8800
0.15

c) So the approximate error, E a is

Ea  Present Approximation – Previous Approximation
 9.8800  10 .263
 0.38300

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Relative Approximate Error

 Defined as the ratio between the
approximate error and the present
approximation.
Approximate Error
Relative Approximate Error ( a) =
Present Approximation

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Example—Relative Approximate Error

For f ( x)  7e at x  2 , find the relative approximate
0.5 x

error using values from h  0.3 and h  0.15

Solution:
From Example 3, the approximate value of f (2)  10.263
using h  0.3 and f (2)  9.8800 using h  0.15
Ea  Present Approximation – Previous Approximation
 9.8800  10 .263
 0.38300

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Example (cont.)
Solution: (cont.)
Approximate Error
a 
Present Approximation
 0.38300
  0.038765
9.8800
as a percentage,
 a   0 . 038765  100 %   3 . 8765 %

Absolute relative approximate errors may also need to

be calculated,
a | 0.038765 |  0.038765 or 3.8765%

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How is Absolute Relative Error used as a

stopping criterion?
If |a |  s where s is a pre-specified tolerance, then
no further iterations are necessary and the process is
stopped.

If at least m significant digits are required to be

correct in the final answer, then
|a | 0.5  10 2 m %

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Table of Values
For f ( x)  7e at x  2 with varying step size, h
0.5 x

h f (2) a m
0.3 10.263 N/A 0

0.15 9.8800 3.877% 1

0.10 9.7558 1.273% 1

0.01 9.5378 2.285% 1

0.001 9.5164 0.2249% 2

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