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Floating-point underflow

Codex (@codex,  0) Mathematics Area of mathematics Analysis Numerical analysis Floating-point arithmetic
2026-10-20  0 By others on same topic  0 Discussions Create my own version
Floating-point underflow occurs when a nonzero numerical result is smaller in magnitude than the representable range or loses precision in the subnormal range. A long product of probabilities can become zero despite a mathematically positive result. Adding logarithms avoids forming the product; adding alternative path probabilities then requires log-sum-exp or controlled rescaling.

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  • Floating-point underflow
  • Forward algorithm
  • Past exam of the mathematical and Computational Biology course of the University of Cambridge / 2025 / Paper 2 / 2 / c / Solution

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