New Developments in Interval Arithmetic and Their Implications for Floating-Point Standardization

Fuente: arXiv
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Autore principale: van Emden, M. H.
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2002
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_version_ 1866915559869775872
author van Emden, M. H.
author_facet van Emden, M. H.
contents We consider the prospect of a processor that can perform interval arithmetic at the same speed as conventional floating-point arithmetic. This makes it possible for all arithmetic to be performed with the superior security of interval methods without any penalty in speed. In such a situation the IEEE floating-point standard needs to be compared with a version of floating-point arithmetic that is ideal for the purpose of interval arithmetic. Such a comparison requires a succinct and complete exposition of interval arithmetic according to its recent developments. We present such an exposition in this paper. We conclude that the directed roundings toward the infinities and the definition of division by the signed zeros are valuable features of the standard. Because the operations of interval arithmetic are always defined, exceptions do not arise. As a result neither Nans nor exceptions are needed. Of the status flags, only the inexact flag may be useful. Denormalized numbers seem to have no use for interval arithmetic; in the use of interval constraints, they are a handicap.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_cs_0210015
institution arXiv
publishDate 2002
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle New Developments in Interval Arithmetic and Their Implications for Floating-Point Standardization
van Emden, M. H.
Numerical Analysis
B.2.4; G.1.0
We consider the prospect of a processor that can perform interval arithmetic at the same speed as conventional floating-point arithmetic. This makes it possible for all arithmetic to be performed with the superior security of interval methods without any penalty in speed. In such a situation the IEEE floating-point standard needs to be compared with a version of floating-point arithmetic that is ideal for the purpose of interval arithmetic. Such a comparison requires a succinct and complete exposition of interval arithmetic according to its recent developments. We present such an exposition in this paper. We conclude that the directed roundings toward the infinities and the definition of division by the signed zeros are valuable features of the standard. Because the operations of interval arithmetic are always defined, exceptions do not arise. As a result neither Nans nor exceptions are needed. Of the status flags, only the inexact flag may be useful. Denormalized numbers seem to have no use for interval arithmetic; in the use of interval constraints, they are a handicap.
title New Developments in Interval Arithmetic and Their Implications for Floating-Point Standardization
topic Numerical Analysis
B.2.4; G.1.0
url https://arxiv.org/abs/cs/0210015