12 lines
2.6 KiB
HTML
12 lines
2.6 KiB
HTML
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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>lost in the underflow</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="../../jargon.css" type="text/css"/><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.61.0"/><link rel="home" href="../index.html" title="The Jargon File"/><link rel="up" href="../L.html" title="L"/><link rel="previous" href="lost-in-the-noise.html" title="lost in the noise"/><link rel="next" href="lots-of-MIPS-but-no-I-O.html" title="lots of MIPS but no I/O"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">lost in the underflow</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="lost-in-the-noise.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">L</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="lots-of-MIPS-but-no-I-O.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="lost-in-the-underflow"/><dt xmlns="" id="lost-in-the-underflow"><b>lost in the underflow</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="grammar">adj.</span></dt></dt><dd><p> Too small to be worth considering; more specifically, small beyond
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the limits of accuracy or measurement. This is a reference to <span class="firstterm">floating underflow</span>, a condition that can occur
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when a floating-point arithmetic processor tries to handle quantities
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smaller than its limit of magnitude. It is also a pun on
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‘undertow’ (a kind of fast, cold current that sometimes runs
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just offshore and can be dangerous to swimmers). “<span class="quote">Well, sure, photon
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pressure from the stadium lights alters the path of a thrown baseball, but
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that effect gets lost in the underflow.</span>” Compare
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<a href="../E/epsilon.html"><i class="glossterm">epsilon</i></a>, <a href="../E/epsilon-squared.html"><i class="glossterm">epsilon squared</i></a>; see
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also <a href="../O/overflow-bit.html"><i class="glossterm">overflow bit</i></a>.</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="lost-in-the-noise.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../L.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="lots-of-MIPS-but-no-I-O.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">lost in the noise </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> lots of MIPS but no I/O</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
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