Indian Institute of Technology Indore

MA204 Numerical methods

(Spring Semester 2020)
Instructor: Dr. Vinay Kumar Gupta
Tutorial Sheet 1

1. Determine the absolute and relative errors when approximating the numbers a by a∗ given
below.

(a) a = 0.7000 × 10 and a∗ = 0.7100 × 10,

(b) a = 0.7000 × 10−3 and a∗ = 0.7100 × 10−3 ,
(c) a = 0.7000 × 104 and a∗ = 0.7100 × 104 .
√
2. Determine the five-digit (a) chopping and (b) rounding values of 2.

3. Let x = 5/7 and y = 1/3. Use five-digit floating-point arithmetic (round-off) to compute
x + y, x − y, x × y, x ÷ y.

4. Perform the following computations (a) exactly, (b) using three-digit chopping, and (c)
using three-digit round-off. Compute the absolute and relative errors in parts (b) and (c).
4 1
(i) 5 + 3
4 1
(ii) 5 × 3

5. (a) Let p = 0.54617 and q = 0.54601. Use four-digit floating-point arithmetic (round-off)
to approximate p − q and determine the absolute and relative errors.
(b) Evaluate f (x) = x3 − 6.1x2 + 3.2x + 1.5 at x = 4.71 using three-digit floating-point
arithmetic (round-off).

6. (a) Find the decimal number corresponding to the binary number (1101.011)2 .
(b) Convert (86)10 to the corresponding binary number.
(c) Convert (0.943216)10 to the corresponding binary fraction.
(d) Convert (0.7)10 to the corresponding binary fraction.
(e) Convert (0.3)10 to the corresponding binary fraction.
(f) Find the sum of 0.123 × 103 and 0.456 × 102 and write the results in the three-digit
mantissa form.

7. Show that the bounds on the relative error for the k-digit floating-point representation
f l(x) of a real decimal number x are given by
 
 x − f l(x) 
  ≤ 10−k+1 in chopping
 x 

and by
 
 x − f l(x) 
  ≤ 0.5 × 10−k+1 in rounding.
 x 

(Hint: Refer to page 21–22 of the book Numerical Analysis by Burden and Faires.)
 8. Solve the system

4x1 +3x2 +2x3 + x4 = 1

3x1 +4x2 +3x3 + 2x4 = 1
2x1 +3x2 +4x3 + 3x4 =−1
x1 +2x2 +3x3 + 4x4 =−1

by the Gauss elimination.

9. The exact solution of the system

0.0004x1 + 1.402x2 = 1.406

0.4003x1 − 1.502x2 = 2.501

is x1 = 10 and x2 = 1. Solve this system by the Gauss elimination (a) without pivoting
and (b) with partial pivoting using four-digit floating point arithmetic. Observe the error
in the solution in both the cases.

10. Verify that the exact solution of the system

6x1 + 2 x2 + 2 x3 = −2
2 1
2x1 + x2 + x3 = 1
3 3
x1 + 2 x2 − x3 = 0

is x1 = 13/5, x2 = −19/5, x3 = −5. Solve this system by the Gauss elimination (a)
without pivoting and (b) with partial pivoting using four-digit floating point arithmetic.
Observe the error in the solution in both the cases.

Page 2