Relative difference

Relative difference

Relative difference refers to an evaluation of a difference in measures in context with a base measure. It may be contrasted with an absolute difference.

One approach to obtain the relative difference of two numbers is their absolute difference divided by the maximum of the two numbers. The relative difference is a unitless number expressed as a percentage.

:d_r=|x-y|/max(|x|,|y|),

for at least one of the values not equal zero.

It is especially useful when comparing floating point values in programming languages for equality with a certain tolerance [ [http://c-faq.com/fp/fpequal.html What's a good way to check for "close enough" floating-point equality] ]

Another application is in the computation of approximation errors when the relative error of a measurement is required.

Another approach to obtain the relative difference of two numbers is their absolute difference divided by the current or standard value of the two numbers. Again, the relative difference is a unitless number expressed as a percentage.

ee also

* Percent difference

External links

*http://www.acponline.org/clinical_information/journals_publications/ecp/janfeb00/primer.htm


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