$a+b=b+a$ ? Not quite.

Try to construct two different programs to calculate the value of

$\sum_{k=1}^\infty \frac{1}{k^2}$

Some will immediately noticed that this is actually $\frac{\pi^2}{6}$ , but we try doing it by definition.

First, we calculate the sum by usual order

$1+\frac{1}{4}+\dots+\frac{1}{(N-1)^2}+\frac{1}{N^2}$

Next, we calculate the sum by reversed order

$\frac{1}{N^2}+\frac{1}{(N-1)^2}+\dots+\frac{1}{4}+1$

The answer should be the same, even for computers, right? However, when I tried in C++

First approach:

float zeta_up(long n){
    float ans = 0.;
    for (long k=1; k<=n; k++){
        ans += 1./float(k)/float(k);
    }
    return ans;
}

Second approach:

float zeta_down(long n){
    float ans = 0.;
    for (long k=n; k>=1; k--){
        ans += 1./float(k)/float(k);
    }
    return ans;
}

And a constant value for reference:

1	`const float zeta = M_PI*M_PI/6.;`

Three values are:

1
2
3

zeta_up   = 1.64473
zeta_down = 1.64493
constant  = 1.64493

So, the second approach seems more accurate, why is that?

The discrepancy is due to roundoff issues. A float holds only so many digits and (on my computer) the epsilon value for a float is around $10^{-7}$ . This means that by the time the sum reaches $k = 106$ , the value held in ans is too large for the addition of $10^{-12}$ to have any effect. Many terms at the end of the series have little or no effect on the sum; their contribution is lost. However, those tail terms do have a cumulative contribution on the actual sum and are needed to give an accurate result. By summing in the reverse order these small terms do not have their contributions lost.

C++ For Mathematicians by Edward Scheinerman

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a+b=b+aa+b=b+aa+b=b+a? Not quite.

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$a+b=b+a$ ? Not quite.