Error Sources in Coordinate Operations Software
There are many possible error sources in development of software for coordinate transformations
- Did we mention distortions yet?
- Truncation errors are due to the use of a finite number of terms in an infinite series
- Approximation error is due to approximating one function with another (simpler to compute) function
- Iteration error is due to the use of a finite number of iterations in an iterative process
- Formulation errors are due to the analyst developing the incorrect equations or logic – this includes improper formulations near singular points, improper treatment of signs, incorrect treatment of units and others
- Implementation errors are due to improper coding of the correct formulation
- Round-off errors are those caused by finite word length computers