Re:Accused murderer wins right to check source code of DNA t...
by dathinab on Monday February 08, 2021 @10:21AM
(#26065663)
I wouldn't be surprised if "incorrectly averaging" and similar are very common software errors.
The reasons are manifold, including:
- Normalized values need to be averaged differently the absolute values.
- Floating point has limited precision, even just correctly summing/multiplying numbers need special care if you care about correctness. Results can, in the worst case, be of by a massive amount.
Often you don't need to care about it so it's not uncommon for especially junior programmers to be not so aware about it.
I mean in the last 3 years of working as a professional software engineer/developer I didn't need any of this at all, but once I do I know what to look out for.
The reasons are manifold, including:
- Normalized values need to be averaged differently the absolute values.
- Floating point has limited precision, even just correctly summing/multiplying numbers need special care if you care about correctness. Results can, in the worst case, be of by a massive amount.
Often you don't need to care about it so it's not uncommon for especially junior programmers to be not so aware about it.
I mean in the last 3 years of working as a professional software engineer/developer I didn't need any of this at all, but once I do I know what to look out for.