In computer science, an error avalanche is the mechanism by which a small problem can become compounded until it eventually becomes a very large one.
For example, if the output of one function is the input of another, then small round-off errors in the first function can produce much larger errors in the second. If the second function were fed into a third, the problem could grow even larger, until the values produced are worthless.
Another example is in compilingsource code. One minor syntactical error early on in the code can produce large numbers of perceived errors later, as the compiler gets out-of-phase with the lexical and syntactic information in the source program.
In computer hardware design, one signal in error can propagate errors throughout a computer very quickly. For example, a power supply voltage that is wrong can cause errors to propagate to many chips. Each chip may detect errors and try to report them close together in time. Error handling systems need to be carefully designed if they are to cope with this and produce meaningful information. This situation has also been called an error storm.
Error refers to a difference between actual behavior or measurement and the norms or expectations for the behavior or measurement.
Random error is caused by inherently unpredictable fluctuations in the readings of a measurement apparatus or in the experimenter's interpretation of the instrumental reading, whereas systematic error is predictable, and typically constant or proportional to the true value.
Errors in a system can also be latent design errors that may go unnoticed for years, until the right set of circumstances arises that cause them to become active.
Statistical error is caused by random (and therefore inherently unpredictable) fluctuations in the measurement apparatus, whereas systematic error is caused by an unknown but nonrandom fluctuation.
Errors in a system can also be latent design errors that may go unnoticed for years, until the right set of circumstances arises that cause them to become active.
An error is a deviation from a correct value caused by a malfunction in a system or a functional unit.
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