BigFloat precision issue

Specific Domains Numerics
1

julia> N=BigFloat(2.0,2048);
julia> S=sqrt(N);
julia> S^2-N
-1.727233711018888925077270372560079914223200072887256277004740694033718360632485e-77
julia> S.prec
256
julia> N.prec
2048

Why only 256 precision from the sqrt?

Jean-Pierre Dussault

2 
julia> setprecision(2048)
2048

julia> S = sqrt(N);

julia> S.prec
2048

But perhaps the precision of the output should be inherited from the input argument?

1 Like
3

Thanks!

4

I agree - I think that operations on BigFloats should always promote to the largest precision of the inputs.

That probably was difficult to do when the precision was only controlled by setprecision, but now that it can be specified in the constructor, it just makes sense.

5

A workaround can be to use a setprecision block, like:

julia> setprecision(BigFloat, 2048) do
       N = BigFloat(2.0)
       S = sqrt(N)
       @show N.prec
       @show S.prec
       end
N.prec = 2048
S.prec = 2048

I tend to use those blocks anyway, but I sure did also assume that they promoted to the largest precision when working outside of a block.