Probabilistic Error Analysis of Limited-Precision Stochastic Rounding: Horner's Algorithm and Pairwise Summation

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Main Authors: Arar, El-Mehdi El, Fasi, Massimiliano, Filip, Silviu-Ioan, Mikaitis, Mantas
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Arar, El-Mehdi El
Fasi, Massimiliano
Filip, Silviu-Ioan
Mikaitis, Mantas
author_facet Arar, El-Mehdi El
Fasi, Massimiliano
Filip, Silviu-Ioan
Mikaitis, Mantas
contents Stochastic rounding (SR) is a probabilistic rounding mode that mitigates errors in large-scale numerical computations, especially when prone to stagnation effects. Beyond numerical analysis, SR has shown significant benefits in practical applications such as deep learning and climate modelling. The definition of classical SR requires that results of arithmetic operations are known with infinite precision. This is often not possible, and when it is, the resulting hardware implementation can become prohibitively expensive in terms of energy, area, and latency. A more practical alternative is limited-precision SR, which only requires that the outputs of arithmetic operations are available in higher, finite, precision. We extend previous work on limited-precision SR presented in [El Arar et al., SIAM J. Sci. Comput. 47(5) (2025), B1227-B1249], which developed a framework to evaluate the trade-off between accuracy and hardware resource cost in SR implementations. Within this framework, we study the Horner algorithm and pairwise summation, providing both theoretical insights and practical experiments in these settings when using limited-precision SR.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_24161
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Probabilistic Error Analysis of Limited-Precision Stochastic Rounding: Horner's Algorithm and Pairwise Summation
Arar, El-Mehdi El
Fasi, Massimiliano
Filip, Silviu-Ioan
Mikaitis, Mantas
Numerical Analysis
Stochastic rounding (SR) is a probabilistic rounding mode that mitigates errors in large-scale numerical computations, especially when prone to stagnation effects. Beyond numerical analysis, SR has shown significant benefits in practical applications such as deep learning and climate modelling. The definition of classical SR requires that results of arithmetic operations are known with infinite precision. This is often not possible, and when it is, the resulting hardware implementation can become prohibitively expensive in terms of energy, area, and latency. A more practical alternative is limited-precision SR, which only requires that the outputs of arithmetic operations are available in higher, finite, precision. We extend previous work on limited-precision SR presented in [El Arar et al., SIAM J. Sci. Comput. 47(5) (2025), B1227-B1249], which developed a framework to evaluate the trade-off between accuracy and hardware resource cost in SR implementations. Within this framework, we study the Horner algorithm and pairwise summation, providing both theoretical insights and practical experiments in these settings when using limited-precision SR.
title Probabilistic Error Analysis of Limited-Precision Stochastic Rounding: Horner's Algorithm and Pairwise Summation
topic Numerical Analysis
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.24161