Approximation error: Difference between revisions

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In the [[mathematics|mathematical]] subfield of [[numerical analysis]] the '''approximation error''' in some data is the discrepancy between an exact value and some approximation to it. An approximation error can occur because

#the measurement of the data is not precise (due to the instruments), or

#weapproximations useare approximationsused instead of the real data (e.g., 3.14 instead of π).

One commonly distinguishes between the '''relative error''' and the '''absolute error'''.