Skip to main content

numerics - Does Mathematica have an equivalent of C's nextafter?


In C (and many other programming languages), there is a function


double nextafter(double x, double y)


which takes two (IEEE 754) floating-point numbers and returns the next representable floating-point number after x in the direction of y. What is the Mathematica equivalent of this function for MachinePrecision numbers?




EDIT: This issue has been brought up in the comments, but for the benefit of future readers, note that this is a substantially more subtle task than simply adding or subtracting $MachineEpsilon. The problem is that the distance between one floating-point value and the next changes with magnitude. $MachineEpsilon, by definition, is the smallest positive floating-point value such that 1.0 + $MachineEpsilon > 1.0. The distance between 1.0e-300 and the next number up will be much smaller, while the distance between 1.0e+300 and the next number up will be much greater. In addition, there are issues raised by the transitions between one order of magnitude and the next. Observe that 1.0 + $MachineEpsilon/2 == 1.0, while 1.0 - $MachineEpsilon/2 < 1.0.




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

front end - keyboard shortcut to invoke Insert new matrix

I frequently need to type in some matrices, and the menu command Insert > Table/Matrix > New... allows matrices with lines drawn between columns and rows, which is very helpful. I would like to make a keyboard shortcut for it, but cannot find the relevant frontend token command (4209405) for it. Since the FullForm[] and InputForm[] of matrices with lines drawn between rows and columns is the same as those without lines, it's hard to do this via 3rd party system-wide text expanders (e.g. autohotkey or atext on mac). How does one assign a keyboard shortcut for the menu item Insert > Table/Matrix > New... , preferably using only mathematica? Thanks! Answer In the MenuSetup.tr (for linux located in the $InstallationDirectory/SystemFiles/FrontEnd/TextResources/X/ directory), I changed the line MenuItem["&New...", "CreateGridBoxDialog"] to read MenuItem["&New...", "CreateGridBoxDialog", MenuKey["m", Modifiers-...

How to thread a list

I have data in format data = {{a1, a2}, {b1, b2}, {c1, c2}, {d1, d2}} Tableform: I want to thread it to : tdata = {{{a1, b1}, {a2, b2}}, {{a1, c1}, {a2, c2}}, {{a1, d1}, {a2, d2}}} Tableform: And I would like to do better then pseudofunction[n_] := Transpose[{data2[[1]], data2[[n]]}]; SetAttributes[pseudofunction, Listable]; Range[2, 4] // pseudofunction Here is my benchmark data, where data3 is normal sample of real data. data3 = Drop[ExcelWorkBook[[Column1 ;; Column4]], None, 1]; data2 = {a #, b #, c #, d #} & /@ Range[1, 10^5]; data = RandomReal[{0, 1}, {10^6, 4}]; Here is my benchmark code kptnw[list_] := Transpose[{Table[First@#, {Length@# - 1}], Rest@#}, {3, 1, 2}] &@list kptnw2[list_] := Transpose[{ConstantArray[First@#, Length@# - 1], Rest@#}, {3, 1, 2}] &@list OleksandrR[list_] := Flatten[Outer[List, List@First[list], Rest[list], 1], {{2}, {1, 4}}] paradox2[list_] := Partition[Riffle[list[[1]], #], 2] & /@ Drop[list, 1] RM[list_] := FoldList[Transpose[{First@li...

plotting - Magnifying Glass on a Plot

Although there is a trick in TEX magnifying glass but I want to know is there any function to magnifying glass on a plot with Mathematica ? For example for a function as Sin[x] and at x=Pi/6 Below, this is just a picture desired from the cited site. the image got huge unfortunately I don't know how can I change the size of an image here! Answer Insetting a magnified part of the original Plot A) by adding a new Plot of the specified range xPos = Pi/6; range = 0.2; f = Sin; xyMinMax = {{xPos - range, xPos + range}, {f[xPos] - range*GoldenRatio^-1, f[xPos] + range*GoldenRatio^-1}}; Plot[f[x], {x, 0, 5}, Epilog -> {Transparent, EdgeForm[Thick], Rectangle[Sequence @@ Transpose[xyMinMax]], Inset[Plot[f[x], {x, xPos - range, xPos + range}, Frame -> True, Axes -> False, PlotRange -> xyMinMax, ImageSize -> 270], {4., 0.5}]}, ImageSize -> 700] B) by adding a new Plot within a Circle mf = RegionMember[Disk[{xPos, f[xPos]}, {range, range/GoldenRatio}]] Show...