Mathematically Equivalent, Computationally Non-equivalent Formulas and Software Comprehensibility

Abstract

In the development of mathematical software, often the formula that defines the mathematical purpose of the software is not used directly in the software. The computational algorithm used is often mathematically equivalent to the defining formula, but bears little resemblance to it for computational reasons. Therefore, although the flow of control of the coded algorithm may be visible to a maintenance programmer, comprehending and maintaining the code effectively may still be difficult if only the formula that defines the purpose of the code is provided as documentation. In this memorandum, we provide some examples of this consequence of transforming the mathematical definition of a computation into a coded algorithm.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 22, 1985
Accession Number
ADA630729

Entities

People

  • Marvin J. Goldstein

Organizations

  • Naval Underwater Systems Center

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Ground and Sea Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accuracy
  • Algorithms
  • Asymptotic Series
  • Complex Numbers
  • Computations
  • Computer Programming
  • Computer Programs
  • Computers
  • Efficiency
  • Eigenvalues
  • Information Operations
  • Maintenance
  • Mathematical Programming
  • Numbers
  • Operating Systems
  • Procedures (Computers)
  • Sequences

Fields of Study

  • Computer science

Readers

  • Computational Linguistics
  • Operations Research
  • Theoretical Analysis.