English

Accurate Evaluation of Polynomials

Numerical Analysis 2008-05-22 v1

Abstract

For a large class of polynomials, the standard method of polynomial evaluation, Horner's method, can be very inaccurate. The alternative method given here is on average 100 to 1000 times more accurate than Horner's Method. The number of floating point operations is twice that of Horner's method for a single evaluation. For repeated evaluations at nearby points, the number of floating point operations is only doubled for the first evaluation, and is the same as Horner's Method for all following evaluations. This new method is tested with random polynomials.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0805.3194,
  title  = {Accurate Evaluation of Polynomials},
  author = {Brian M. Sutin},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0805.3194},
  year   = {2008}
}

Comments

8 pages + 2 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-21T10:42:43.545Z