Generator

units-overflow

One function in the qepscale library, called 15 times across 5 essays. Below: what it draws at its defaults, what it draws at every value an essay asks for, the 10 claims it put to the test while drawing them, and where it stands against the rule this site is named for.

At its defaults it draws where binary32 stops being able to hold the linearisation, and where the scaled problem does not. Forming the first companion linearisation needs γ²M to be representable. The upper row is whether every entry of (γ²M, γC, K) is finite in binary32, at twelve changes of units; the lower row is the same question after Fan–Lin–Van Dooren scaling. The boundary is √(largest finite value ÷ largest entry of M) = 1.8447·10¹⁹, computed from the format's parameters and nothing measured — and the sweep agrees with it at every stop: the last change of units that survives is 10¹⁹ and the first that does not is 10²⁰. The scaled row never fails, because δγ²M has norm about one whatever γ was. In a narrow format the scaling is not an accuracy device: it is what makes the problem exist.

units-overflow is one function in lib/figures/qepscale.js — the units a polynomial is written in — two lines of scaling, a prediction that is half right, and a format's edge. Everything below came out of it during this build, at arguments taken from the essays rather than invented for this page. A figure here is the figure a reader meets in an essay, and if the generator changes, this page changes with it.

At its defaults

Drawn even though every essay passes arguments — which on this site is every essay, at 100% of placements since the standard pass. A default nothing exercises is a trap for the next essay to call this with none, and this is the page where a default that has drifted from the figures around it becomes visible.

Where binary32 stops being able to hold the linearisation, and where the scaled problem does notForming the first companion linearisation needs γ²M to be representable. The upper row is whether every entry of (γ²M, γC, K) is finite in binary32, at twelve changes of units; the lower row is the same question after Fan–Lin–Van Dooren scaling. The boundary is √(largest finite value ÷ largest entry of M) = 1.8447·10¹⁹, computed from the format's parameters and nothing measured — and the sweep agrees with it at every stop: the last change of units that survives is 10¹⁹ and the first that does not is 10²⁰. The scaled row never fails, because δγ²M has norm about one whatever γ was. In a narrow format the scaling is not an accuracy device: it is what makes the problem exist.02468101201change of units, by exponent10⁰10¹10²10³10⁴10⁶10¹⁰10¹⁶10¹⁹10²⁰10⁴⁰10¹⁵⁰as writtenafter scalinga range questionlargest finite value3.4·10³⁸predicted boundary γ1.8·10¹⁹last γ that forms10¹⁹stops where scaling fails0not a poor answerno answer at all

Forming the first companion linearisation needs γ²M to be representable. The upper row is whether every entry of (γ²M, γC, K) is finite in binary32, at twelve changes of units; the lower row is the same question after Fan–Lin–Van Dooren scaling. The boundary is √(largest finite value ÷ largest entry of M) = 1.8447·10¹⁹, computed from the format's parameters and nothing measured — and the sweep agrees with it at every stop: the last change of units that survives is 10¹⁹ and the first that does not is 10²⁰. The scaled row never fails, because δγ²M has norm about one whatever γ was. In a narrow format the scaling is not an accuracy device: it is what makes the problem exist.

format: "fp32"

The arguments are the ones A backward-stable answer to a problem nobody asked passes. A value drawn at the generator's defaults instead would be a picture no essay asked for and no assertion has been run against.

Where binary32 stops being able to hold the linearisation, and where the scaled problem does notForming the first companion linearisation needs γ²M to be representable. The upper row is whether every entry of (γ²M, γC, K) is finite in binary32, at twelve changes of units; the lower row is the same question after Fan–Lin–Van Dooren scaling. The boundary is √(largest finite value ÷ largest entry of M) = 1.8447·10¹⁹, computed from the format's parameters and nothing measured — and the sweep agrees with it at every stop: the last change of units that survives is 10¹⁹ and the first that does not is 10²⁰. The scaled row never fails, because δγ²M has norm about one whatever γ was. In a narrow format the scaling is not an accuracy device: it is what makes the problem exist.02468101201change of units, by exponent10⁰10¹10²10³10⁴10⁶10¹⁰10¹⁶10¹⁹10²⁰10⁴⁰10¹⁵⁰as writtenafter scalinga range questionlargest finite value3.4·10³⁸predicted boundary γ1.8·10¹⁹last γ that forms10¹⁹stops where scaling fails0not a poor answerno answer at all

Forming the first companion linearisation needs γ²M to be representable. The upper row is whether every entry of (γ²M, γC, K) is finite in binary32, at twelve changes of units; the lower row is the same question after Fan–Lin–Van Dooren scaling. The boundary is √(largest finite value ÷ largest entry of M) = 1.8447·10¹⁹, computed from the format's parameters and nothing measured — and the sweep agrees with it at every stop: the last change of units that survives is 10¹⁹ and the first that does not is 10²⁰. The scaled row never fails, because δγ²M has norm about one whatever γ was. In a narrow format the scaling is not an accuracy device: it is what makes the problem exist.

format: "fp16"

The arguments are the ones A backward-stable answer to a problem nobody asked passes. A value drawn at the generator's defaults instead would be a picture no essay asked for and no assertion has been run against.

Where fp16 stops being able to hold the linearisation, and where the scaled problem does notForming the first companion linearisation needs γ²M to be representable. The upper row is whether every entry of (γ²M, γC, K) is finite in fp16, at twelve changes of units; the lower row is the same question after Fan–Lin–Van Dooren scaling. The boundary is √(largest finite value ÷ largest entry of M) = 255.94, computed from the format's parameters and nothing measured — and the sweep agrees with it at every stop: the last change of units that survives is 100 and the first that does not is 1000. The scaled row never fails, because δγ²M has norm about one whatever γ was. In a narrow format the scaling is not an accuracy device: it is what makes the problem exist.02468101201change of units, by exponent10⁰10¹10²10³10⁴10⁶10¹⁰10¹⁶10¹⁹10²⁰10⁴⁰10¹⁵⁰as writtenafter scalinga range questionlargest finite value6.6·10⁴predicted boundary γ256last γ that forms100stops where scaling fails0not a poor answerno answer at all

Forming the first companion linearisation needs γ²M to be representable. The upper row is whether every entry of (γ²M, γC, K) is finite in fp16, at twelve changes of units; the lower row is the same question after Fan–Lin–Van Dooren scaling. The boundary is √(largest finite value ÷ largest entry of M) = 255.94, computed from the format's parameters and nothing measured — and the sweep agrees with it at every stop: the last change of units that survives is 100 and the first that does not is 1000. The scaled row never fails, because δγ²M has norm about one whatever γ was. In a narrow format the scaling is not an accuracy device: it is what makes the problem exist.

format: "fp64"

The arguments are the ones The scaling that buys ten orders passes. A value drawn at the generator's defaults instead would be a picture no essay asked for and no assertion has been run against.

Where binary64 stops being able to hold the linearisation, and where the scaled problem does notForming the first companion linearisation needs γ²M to be representable. The upper row is whether every entry of (γ²M, γC, K) is finite in binary64, at twelve changes of units; the lower row is the same question after Fan–Lin–Van Dooren scaling. The boundary is √(largest finite value ÷ largest entry of M) = 1.3408·10¹⁵⁴, computed from the format's parameters and nothing measured — and the sweep agrees with it at every stop: the last change of units that survives is 10¹⁵⁰ and the first that does not is ∞. The scaled row never fails, because δγ²M has norm about one whatever γ was. In a narrow format the scaling is not an accuracy device: it is what makes the problem exist.02468101201change of units, by exponent10⁰10¹10²10³10⁴10⁶10¹⁰10¹⁶10¹⁹10²⁰10⁴⁰10¹⁵⁰as writtenafter scalinga range questionlargest finite value1.8·10³⁰⁸predicted boundary γ1.3·10¹⁵⁴last γ that forms10¹⁵⁰stops where scaling fails0not a poor answerno answer at all

Forming the first companion linearisation needs γ²M to be representable. The upper row is whether every entry of (γ²M, γC, K) is finite in binary64, at twelve changes of units; the lower row is the same question after Fan–Lin–Van Dooren scaling. The boundary is √(largest finite value ÷ largest entry of M) = 1.3408·10¹⁵⁴, computed from the format's parameters and nothing measured — and the sweep agrees with it at every stop: the last change of units that survives is 10¹⁵⁰ and the first that does not is ∞. The scaled row never fails, because δγ²M has norm about one whatever γ was. In a narrow format the scaling is not an accuracy device: it is what makes the problem exist.

format: "tf32"

The arguments are the ones The scaling that buys ten orders passes. A value drawn at the generator's defaults instead would be a picture no essay asked for and no assertion has been run against.

Where tf32 stops being able to hold the linearisation, and where the scaled problem does notForming the first companion linearisation needs γ²M to be representable. The upper row is whether every entry of (γ²M, γC, K) is finite in tf32, at twelve changes of units; the lower row is the same question after Fan–Lin–Van Dooren scaling. The boundary is √(largest finite value ÷ largest entry of M) = 1.8442·10¹⁹, computed from the format's parameters and nothing measured — and the sweep agrees with it at every stop: the last change of units that survives is 10¹⁹ and the first that does not is 10²⁰. The scaled row never fails, because δγ²M has norm about one whatever γ was. In a narrow format the scaling is not an accuracy device: it is what makes the problem exist.02468101201change of units, by exponent10⁰10¹10²10³10⁴10⁶10¹⁰10¹⁶10¹⁹10²⁰10⁴⁰10¹⁵⁰as writtenafter scalinga range questionlargest finite value3.4·10³⁸predicted boundary γ1.8·10¹⁹last γ that forms10¹⁹stops where scaling fails0not a poor answerno answer at all

Forming the first companion linearisation needs γ²M to be representable. The upper row is whether every entry of (γ²M, γC, K) is finite in tf32, at twelve changes of units; the lower row is the same question after Fan–Lin–Van Dooren scaling. The boundary is √(largest finite value ÷ largest entry of M) = 1.8442·10¹⁹, computed from the format's parameters and nothing measured — and the sweep agrees with it at every stop: the last change of units that survives is 10¹⁹ and the first that does not is 10²⁰. The scaled row never fails, because δγ²M has norm about one whatever γ was. In a narrow format the scaling is not an accuracy device: it is what makes the problem exist.

What it checked while drawing

Every figure above asserted its own claims on the way to being drawn, and a claim that failed would have failed the build rather than drawn a wrong picture. Those assertions used to leave no trace at all: a passing one returned true and the only evidence the figure had checked anything was that nothing crashed. The list below is what they actually said, collected by running this generator with an observer installed — not a description of what it is believed to check.

10 distinct claims across 5 sets of arguments, grouped below by shape — because most of them are one sentence with a different number in it, and how many separate times that sentence was put to the test is the informative part.

a chain long enough to have a spectrum and short enough to draw

a format this figure knows

a format this file knows

a positive change of units

a positive mass

a quadratic with both outer coefficients present

an overdamped chain, whose spectrum is entirely real

and the scaled coefficients are representable at every stop

damping that removes energy rather than adding it

the format's own largest number predicts the boundary

Against the rule

The rule does not apply to it. It factorises nothing, so there is no residual it could be withholding. That is worth stating rather than leaving blank: a site that reported the rule as satisfied by every generator would be counting mostly generators the rule never reached.

Across the library: the rule bites on 173 of 325 generators — 158 print a residual and 15 are exempt with a published reason; 152 factorise nothing. Read from lib/residual-rule.js, which is the same body the gate enforces from, and the gate's last check fails the build if this page and it disagree about any generator.

Where it is called

Changing this generator changes every figure on this list. That is what makes the list worth publishing rather than keeping in a check script.

The eigenvalue problem that is not linear

A backward-stable answer to a problem nobody asked

One quadratic eigenvalue problem, in nine systems of units, with a change of variable that is exact in both directions. The residual the solver prints stays at the rounding level at every stop. The answer loses eleven orders of magnitude, and the two facts are consistent.

The eigenvalue problem that is not linear

Six routes to one spectrum

Three linearisations of one quadratic, each reduced to a standard eigenvalue problem two ways. All six have exactly the same eigenvalues in exact arithmetic. On a well-scaled problem they differ by noise; on a badly scaled one by a factor of forty; and two of the six are the same matrix.

Two errors, and whose fault they are

The roots are not the coefficients

A polynomial whose roots are the integers one to twenty, expanded exactly, handed to the routine every library uses. The computed roots are wrong in the third digit, the computation is backward stable for the matrix it factorised, and above degree eighteen the coefficients are not double-precision numbers at all.

The eigenvalue problem that is not linear

The scaling that buys ten orders

Two lines computed from three norms, a change of variable that is exact in both directions, and the whole of the loss the previous essay measured comes back — flat, at every stop, because after scaling every stop is the same problem.

The arithmetic underneath

The units that overflow before the answer does

A change of variable that is exact in the algebra requires γ² times a matrix to be a number the format can hold. In binary64 that is a bound nobody meets by accident. In binary32 it arrives at 10¹⁹ and in fp16 at 256, and past it there is no answer rather than a poor one.

The whole library · All essays · What must fail