Debugging and detecting numerical errors in computation with posits
Sangeeta Chowdhary, Jay P. Lim, Santosh Nagarakatte
Abstract
Posit is a recently proposed alternative to the floating point representation (FP). It provides tapered accuracy. Given a fixed number of bits, the posit representation can provide better precision for some numbers compared to FP, which has generated significant interest in numerous domains. Being a representation with tapered accuracy, it can introduce high rounding errors for numbers outside the above golden zone. Programmers currently lack tools to detect and debug errors while programming with posits.
Topics & Concepts
RoundingDebuggingComputer scienceRepresentation (politics)ComputationFloating pointPoint (geometry)AlgorithmTheoretical computer scienceComputer engineeringArithmeticParallel computingProgramming languageMathematicsGeometryLawPoliticsOperating systemPolitical scienceNumerical Methods and AlgorithmsParallel Computing and Optimization TechniquesLow-power high-performance VLSI design