Dick Hendrickson wrote:
>
> >
> > An engineer takes a simple and "false" algorithm (that is also simple to understand)
> > and it works (I mean the results are satifactory for what he wants to do). One day,
> > a case occurs where it fails. Then the engineer tries to understand why it fails
> > in that case.
>
> That's OK if the failure is obvious. What does he do if the failure is
> that
> the wings fall off the airplane in 2 years?
>
Of course it depends on the applications. In my domain, the worst consequence of a numerical failure is just a new run of the program, not a plane crash :-)
Anyway, I hope that in teams that are in charge of designing plane wings, there are some numerical analysis specialists, who fully understand the algorithms they use :-)
Pierre
--
+-----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| Pierre Hugonnet | mail....CGG |
| | 1, rue Leon Migaux |
| R&D Data Processing | 91341 MASSY cedex |
| | FRANCE |
| COMPAGNIE GENERALE DE GEOPHYSIQUE | phone...(33) 164 47 45 59 |
| Paris Processing Centre | fax.....(33) 164 47 32 49 |
| http://www.cgg.com | [log in to unmask] |
+-----------------------------------+----------------------------+
My opinions are not necessarily those of CGG
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|