Lecture-5

• Truncation errors
 Truncation error
• Error caused by truncating or approximating a
mathematical procedure.

2
 Example of Truncation Error

Taking only a few terms of a Maclaurin series to

approximate

If only 3 terms are used,

3
 Example of Truncation Error
• While using computer with fixed word
length numbers are usually truncated
that give rise to truncation error.
• Ex: 13.75843 can be truncated to 4
length as
• 13.75
Example of Truncation Error
Calculate T. Error when 4 term are
used in the expansion of

5
Solution

If only 4 terms are used,

PROPAGATION OF ERRORS
•For solving a problem, various computational steps
are performed. Understanding how errors propagate
when using continuous computation is essential.
•When two numbers and approximations are and ,
respectively, the absolute errors can be calculated as
per the mathematical procedure as follows:
1.Absolute error while adding
2.Absolute error while subtracting
3.Absolute error in product
4.Absolute error in division
Lets derive the formulas
Error in addition
+)

• The absolute error thus can be written as,

Error in difference:

• )

• The absolute error thus can be written as,

Error in product:

• )

• Ignoring the small value of .

• The error thus can be written as,

Error in division:

Ignoring the small value of .

Thus, the error can be written as

Continued…