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Subject: Re: interesting idea

Author: Rolf Tueschen

Date: 03:28:52 09/07/02

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On September 06, 2002 at 21:42:17, Robert Hyatt wrote:

>On September 06, 2002 at 16:26:14, Rolf Tueschen wrote:
>
>>On September 06, 2002 at 15:55:09, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>>
>>>On September 06, 2002 at 15:41:41, Rolf Tueschen wrote:
>>>
>>>>On September 06, 2002 at 15:28:09, Sune Fischer wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>On September 06, 2002 at 14:38:15, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>On September 06, 2002 at 14:17:59, Sune Fischer wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>On September 06, 2002 at 11:53:13, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>I have posted the raw data logs, the "cooked data" that I extracted from the
>>>>>>>>logs, and the speedup tables (those for Martin last nite).  It might be
>>>>>>>>interesting to take the cb.c program I also posted and change the speedup
>>>>>>>>format to show 3 decimel places (I used 2 as Martin had suggested that would
>>>>>>>>be better.)
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>It would be interesting to run the program with 1, 2 and 3 decimel place
>>>>>>>>accuracy, and let everyone look at the three tables and decide which one
>>>>>>>>_really_ provides the most useful information.  I'll bet everyone likes
>>>>>>>>.1 better than .11 because is .01 really significant?  Or is it just random
>>>>>>>>noise?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>To a numerical scientist (as I'm sure you know) the numbers 1.8 and 1.80 are not
>>>>>>>identical, 1.80 is ten times more accurate, and that is a powerful statement in
>>>>>>>itself.
>>>>>>>To produce such a number you need to (a) run a larger experiment and do some
>>>>>>>statistics to get an average or (b) get some better and probably a lot more
>>>>>>>expensive equipment (higher resolution mass-spectrometers, or whatever the
>>>>>>>situation may call for), though in this case (a) seems like the only option.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>(a) was the course I took in my dissertation, but I had a 30 processor
>>>>>>sequent that was basically "mine" for several months so running thousands
>>>>>>of tests was not impossible.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>However, doesn't that leave the data open to the same criticism as the data
>>>>>>in my dts JICCA article?  (that the data is not "raw")??  Because it will
>>>>>>be an average, and that will make it look artificial...
>>>>>>
>>>>>>So back we go again?
>>>>>
>>>>>Sorry, I'm not fully up to speed here because I haven't read all of the threads,
>>>>>so my comment was more of a general nature :)
>>>>>
>>>>>But I'd say it depends on what you want to show, if you have bunch of positions
>>>>>that you want to know the speedup for, and you know that every time you run it
>>>>>you get something sligthly different. Then, you have no choice but to roundoff
>>>>>to lose a few of the inaccurate digits, or alternatively do additional work to
>>>>>make sure you get the digits right.
>>>>>
>>>>>There seems to be little point in using a number of 1.983432 for a speedup, if
>>>>>the next run will produce 1.9348284 and the next 1.96347823 etc., it looks
>>>>>rather silly doesn't it :)
>>>>>
>>>>>Personally I would rather be presented with a clean average number of 1.94, or
>>>>>even 1.9 or 2.0.
>>>>>
>>>>>>I've always used "averages" but for the DTS paper it was simply impossible.
>>>>>>You might Call someone up like say "united computing" in texas and ask what
>>>>>>they would have charged for a few months time on a dedicated C90.  :)
>>>>>
>>>>>That is a dilemma, of course if you have no grasp what so ever on how much the
>>>>>error is, you have a problem. So to be safe, it is better to use less digits ;)
>>>>>
>>>>>Anyway, this is all something that can be read in any introductury data analysis
>>>>>book, here is something I found on google:
>>>>>
>>>>>"From the mathematical standpoint, the precision of a number resulting from
>>>>>measurement depends upon the number of decimal places; that is, a larger number
>>>>>of decimal places means a smaller probable error. In 2.3 inches the probable
>>>>>error is 0.05 inch, since 2.3 actually lies somewhere between 2.25 and 2.35. In
>>>>>1.426 inches there is a much smaller probable error of 0.0005 inch. If we add
>>>>>2.300 + 1.426 and get an answer in thousandths, the answer, 3.726 inches, would
>>>>>appear to be precise to thousandths; but this is not true since there was a
>>>>>probable error of .05 in one of the addends. Also 2.300 appears to be precise to
>>>>>thousandths but in this example it is precise only to tenths. It is evident that
>>>>>the precision of a sum is no greater than the precision of the least precise
>>>>>addend. It can also be shown that the precision of a difference is no greater
>>>>>than the less precise number compared.
>>>>>
>>>>>To add or subtract numbers of different orders, all numbers should first be
>>>>>rounded off to the order of the least precise number. In the foregoing example,
>>>>>1.426 should be rounded to tenths-that is, 1.4."
>>>>>
>>>>>http://www.tpub.com/math1/7b.htm
>>>>>
>>>>>(some great semantics at the very bottom:)
>>>>>
>>>>>-S.
>>>>
>>>>Chapter three:
>>>>
>>>>Bob, how you could say that speed-up was measured? Isn't it a factor and
>>>>therefore calculated?  come back to my first statement!
>>>>
>>>>Rolf Tueschen
>>>
>>>
>>>OK... a terminology issue.  Board A is 2 feet long.  Board B is 3 feet long.
>>>How long are both?
>>>
>>>measured:  put 'em end to end and let a tape show 5'???
>>>
>>>calculated:  measure each one and add the two lengths which shows 5'???
>>>
>>>The speedups were calculated, but there is an exact relationship between the
>>>time taken to search with 1 processor vs the time taken to search with N
>>>processors.  Speedup is defined to be that ratio.  IE the speedup was not
>>>extrapolated, or calculated by finagling with various things like NPS, time,
>>>outside temp, cpu mhz, etc.  It is just a direct result of dividing measured
>>>number A into measured number B.
>>>
>>>Whether that quotient is "measured" or "calculated" seems to be moot since it
>>>will be the _same_ result...???
>>
>>I'm getting older each day...
>>
>>But speed-up is a factor and _not_ seconds. Ok, this might be unimportant here.
>>We're surely not searching for Newton's constants. Since we are depending on
>>chess positions as you've said yourself. So we can't have 'exact' relationships.
>>
>>Rolf Tueschen
>
>
>Here we do.  IE, the one cpu run takes two minutes.  The two cpu run takes
>one minute.  The speedup is 2.0, which is produced by dividing the 1cpu time
>by the 2cpu time.  In fact, that is the only way to get a speedup since you
>really can't "observe" such a thing in raw form because it is a comparison
>between two separate events...
>
>But it can't possibly change unless one of the times changes.  And if one of
>the times changes, then the speedup changes too.
>
>The exception occurs with rounding errors.  And with the times vs speedup,
>as there are an infinite number of pairs of times that will pruduce a specific
>speedup.

Actually I was "defending" you against Sune. He advised you to consider the
number of the digits, talking about measurement. From the internet files...
What I was trying to say was that the speedup is a ratio and no measurement. And
that depending of the positions (chess) this ratio would vary. So, here I give a
first point to Vincent. To do exact research we must analyse how far chess does
influence the speedup! I think that we could still continue the debate. Or is
your paper already history and the actual problems are different ones? I had a
different impression when reading V.  First: Are you sure that 24 different
positions would lead you to the same speed-ups? What, if certain positions allow
a gain for particular ncpu? Questions over questions.

Rolf Tueschen



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