Editing FAQ
The edit can be undone. Please check the comparison below to verify that this is what you want to do, and then publish the changes below to finish undoing the edit.
Latest revision | Your text | ||
Line 12: | Line 12: | ||
<div class="tocinline">__TOC__</div> | <div class="tocinline">__TOC__</div> | ||
=General= | =General= | ||
Line 57: | Line 52: | ||
John W. Eaton, David Bateman, Søren Hauberg, Rik Wehbring ({{Release Year}}). | John W. Eaton, David Bateman, Søren Hauberg, Rik Wehbring ({{Release Year}}). | ||
GNU Octave version {{Release}} manual: a high-level interactive language for numerical computations. | GNU Octave version {{Release}} manual: a high-level interactive language for numerical computations. | ||
URL https:// | URL https://www.gnu.org/software/octave/doc/v{{Release}}/ | ||
A [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BibTeX BibTeX] entry for [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaTeX LaTeX] users is: | A [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BibTeX BibTeX] entry for [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaTeX LaTeX] users is: | ||
Line 65: | Line 60: | ||
author = {John W. Eaton and David Bateman and S{\o}ren Hauberg and Rik Wehbring}, | author = {John W. Eaton and David Bateman and S{\o}ren Hauberg and Rik Wehbring}, | ||
year = <span>{</span>{{Release Year}}}, | year = <span>{</span>{{Release Year}}}, | ||
url = { | url = {https://www.gnu.org/software/octave/doc/v{{Release}}/}, | ||
} | } | ||
Line 94: | Line 89: | ||
* After Octave upgrade the GUI does not open / shuts down immediately. | * After Octave upgrade the GUI does not open / shuts down immediately. | ||
** '''Solution:''' | ** '''Solution:''' Delete the folder {{path|C:\Users\YOUR_USER_NAME\.config\octave}} | ||
* Missing/conflicting files. | * Missing/conflicting files. | ||
** '''Solution:''' Remove/Uninstall all existing Octave versions. Restart the system. Install GNU Octave again. | ** '''Solution:''' Remove/Uninstall all existing Octave versions. Restart the system. Install GNU Octave again. | ||
* Permission errors | * Permission errors | ||
** '''Solution 1:''' Octave | ** '''Solution 1:''' Octave on MS Windows uses VBS scripts to start the program. You can test whether your system is blocking VBS scripts by doing the following: | ||
**# Using Notepad or another text editor, create a text file containing only the text: <pre>msgbox("This is a test script, Click OK to close")</pre> | **# Using Notepad or another text editor, create a text file containing only the text: <pre>msgbox("This is a test script, Click OK to close")</pre> | ||
**# Save the file on your Desktop with the name {{Path|testscript.vbs}} (be sure that the editor didn't end it in .txt or .vbs.txt). | **# Save the file on your Desktop with the name {{Path|testscript.vbs}} (be sure that the editor didn't end it in .txt or .vbs.txt). | ||
Line 112: | Line 105: | ||
** '''Solution 3:''' Did you install Octave on a network-drive? Do you have the execution permissions? | ** '''Solution 3:''' Did you install Octave on a network-drive? Do you have the execution permissions? | ||
** '''Solution 4:''' Is your computer managed by your company? Does your administrator prohibit script execution? | ** '''Solution 4:''' Is your computer managed by your company? Does your administrator prohibit script execution? | ||
==I do not see any output of my script until it has finished?== | ==I do not see any output of my script until it has finished?== | ||
Line 158: | Line 132: | ||
==Why is Octave's floating-point computation wrong?== | ==Why is Octave's floating-point computation wrong?== | ||
Floating-point arithmetic is an approximation '''in binary''' to arithmetic on real or complex numbers. Just like you cannot represent 1/3 exactly in decimal arithmetic (0.333333... is only a rough approximation to 1/3 | Floating-point arithmetic is an approximation '''in binary''' to arithmetic on real or complex numbers. Just like you cannot represent 1/3 exactly in decimal arithmetic (0.333333... is only a rough approximation to 1/3), you cannot represent some fractions like <math>1/10</math> exactly in base 2. In binary, the representation to one tenth is <math>0.0\overline{0011}_b</math> where the bar indicates that it repeats infinitely (like how <math>1/6 = 0.1\overline{6}_d</math> in decimal). Because this infinite repetition cannot be represented exactly with a finite number of digits, rounding errors occur for values that appear to be exact in decimal but are in fact approximations in binary, such as for example how 0.3 - 0.2 - 0.1 is not equal to zero. | ||
In addition, some advanced operations are computed by approximation and there is no guarantee for them to be accurate, see [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rounding#Table-maker.27s_dilemma Table-maker's dilemma] for further references. Their results are system-dependent. | In addition, some advanced operations are computed by approximation and there is no guarantee for them to be accurate, see [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rounding#Table-maker.27s_dilemma Table-maker's dilemma] for further references. Their results are system-dependent. |