Abstract. We introduce a concrete semantics for floating-point operations which describes the propagation of roundoff errors throughout a computation. This semantics is used to assert the correctness of an abstract interpretation which can be straightforwardly derived from it. In our model, every elementary operation introduces a new first order error term, which is later combined with other error terms, yielding higher order error terms. The semantics is parameterized by the maximal order of error to be examined and verifies whether higher order errors actually are negligible. We consider also coarser semantics computing the contribution, to the final error, of the errors due to some intermediate computations.
Martel REF presents a general concrete semantics for floating-point operations to explain the propagation of roundoff errors in a computation.
Propagation of roundoff errors in finite precision computations: a semantics approach
In ESOP’02, number 2305 in LNCS
Computer Science