Bits and Bugs

Book excerpt: In scientific computing (also known as computational science), advanced computing capabilities are used to solve complex problems. This self-contained book describes and analyzes reported software failures related to the major topics within scientific computing: mathematical modeling of phenomena; numerical analysis (number representation, rounding, conditioning); mathematical aspects and complexity of algorithms, systems, or software; concurrent computing (parallelization, scheduling, synchronization); and numerical data (such as input of data and design of control logic). Readers will find lists of related, interesting bugs, MATLAB examples, and ?excursions? that provide necessary background, as well as an in-depth analysis of various aspects of the selected bugs. Illustrative examples of numerical principles such as machine numbers, rounding errors, condition numbers, and complexity are also included.