Precision & Accuracy Control
The Wolfram Language has sophisticated built-in automatic numerical precision and accuracy control. But for special-purpose optimization of numerical computations, or for studying numerical analysis, the Wolfram Language also allows detailed control over precision and accuracy.
N — numerical evaluation to specified precision and accuracy
PrecisionGoal, AccuracyGoal — precision and accuracy goals for computations
WorkingPrecision — precision to use inside algorithms
Precision — find the precision of a number
Accuracy — find the accuracy of a number
Chop — set sufficiently small numbers or imaginary parts to zero
SetPrecision, SetAccuracy — reset precision or accuracy of a number
$MinPrecision, $MaxPrecision — settable global precision bounds
$MaxExtraPrecision — maximum extra precision to use inside exact algorithms
Machine Numbers
MachinePrecision — symbol representing machine precision
MachineNumberQ — test if a number is a machine number
$MachinePrecision ▪ $MachineEpsilon ▪ $MinMachineNumber ▪ $MaxMachineNumber