Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Truncation
In mathematics, truncation is the term used for reducing the number of digits right of the decimal point, by discarding the least significant ones.
For example, consider the real numbers
- 5.6341432543653654
- 32.438191288
- 6.3444444444444
To truncate these numbers to 4 decimal digits, we only consider the 4 digits to the right of the decimal point.
The result would be:
- 5.6341
- 32.4381
- 6.3444
Note that in some cases, truncating would yield the same result as rounding, but truncation does not round up or round down the digits, it merely cuts off at the specified digit. The truncation error can be twice the maximum error in rounding.
12-03-2008 10:22:39
The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details
The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details