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ID: past-exam-of-the-year-1-of-the-computer-science-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2016/digital-systems-linear-algebra-introduction-to-formal-proof-resit/4/b/solution
Past exam of the year 1 of the computer science course of the University of Oxford 2016 Digital systems, linear algebra, introduction to formal proof (resit) 4 b Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
The Gram-Schmidt process constructs the vectors in order:The empty sum at is zero. Each subtraction removes the projection onto one previous unit vector, so is orthogonal to their span. Linear independence of the inputs ensures in exact arithmetic, and normalization gives unit length.
In floating-point arithmetic, subtracting nearly equal projections can amplify roundoff and cause loss of orthogonality, especially for nearly dependent columns. Modified Gram-Schmidt, reorthogonalization, or Householder QR factorization can improve numerical behaviour; no implementation can remove the underlying sensitivity of nearly dependent input data.
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