MSS 224 SEM 2 2016/2017 1

Mzumbe University
Falculty of Science and Technology
MSS 224: Numerical Analysis
Tutorial sheet 1.

Errors in Computations

1. With example define the following terms

(a) Rounding error (b)Truncating error (c) Cancelation error and (d) Chopping error

2. Theorem 0.0.1 (Error Propagation) a) In addition and subtraction, a bound for the error of the results is
given by the sum of the error bounds for the terms
b) In multiplication and division, an error bound for the relative error of the results is given(approximated) by
the sum of the bounds for the relative errors of the given numbers.

Prove the theorem above.

3. Given two numbers a = 8.8909 × 103 and b = 8.887 × 103 . Calculate the difference between the two numbers
(a−b) using decimal floating point approximation(scientific notation) with three significant digits in the mantissa
by (a) Chopping (b) Rounding.

4. Given the number π is approximated using n = 5 decimal digits.

a) Determine the relative error due to chopping and express it as percent.
b) Determine the relative error due to rounding and express it as percent.

5. If the number π = 4 arctan(1) is approximated using 7 significant figures, find the percentage relative error due
to (a)Rounding (b)Chopping

6. Use Taylor series expression (zero through fourth order) to predict f (2) for f (x) = ln(x) with a base point at
x = 1. Determine the true percentage relative error for each approximation(This is round-off error).

7. Given the trigonometric function f (x) = sin x.

a) Expand f (x) about x = 0 using Taylor series (b) Truncate the series to n = 6 terms.
π
c) Find the relative error at x = 4 due to truncation in (b).
π
d) Determine the upper bound on the magnitude of the relative error at x = 4 and express as percent.

8. Determine (a) the second and (b) the third Taylor polynomial for f (x) = cos x about x = 0, and use these poly-
nomials to approximate cos(0.01). (c) Use the third Taylor polynomial and its remainder term to approximate

Z 0.1
I= cos xdx
0

9. Find the second Taylor polynomial P2 (x) for the function f (x) = ex cos x about x = 0.
a) Use P2 (0.5) to approximate f (0.5). Find an upper bound for error |f (0.5) − P2 (0.5)| using the error formula
and compare it to the actual error.
b) Find a bound for the error |f (0.5) − P2 (0.5)| in using P2 (x) to approximate f (x) on the interval [0, 1].
R1 R1
c) Approximate 0 f (x)dx using 0 P2 (x)dx.
R1
d) Find an upper bound for the error in (c) using 0 |R2 (x)dx| and compare the bound to the actual error.