13 lines
634 B
Plaintext
13 lines
634 B
Plaintext
lost in the underflow
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adj. Too small to be worth considering; more specifically, small beyond the
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limits of accuracy or measurement. This is a reference to floating underflow
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, a condition that can occur when a floating-point arithmetic processor
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tries to handle quantities smaller than its limit of magnitude. It is also a
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pun on undertow (a kind of fast, cold current that sometimes runs just
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offshore and can be dangerous to swimmers). Well, sure, photon pressure from
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the stadium lights alters the path of a thrown baseball, but that effect
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gets lost in the underflow. Compare epsilon , epsilon squared ; see also
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overflow bit.
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