Follow your curiosity

What discovery has been shared with you?

FACTREE gives you something interesting to discover every day — and something worth talking about together.

Start with one fact. Explore it, go deeper, then follow whichever branch catches your imagination.

Choose subjects for a surprise

Exploring any topic

Begin your discovery

Your next discovery is one click away.

Choose one or more subjects above, or leave Any Topic selected and let curiosity decide.

Mathematics

Condition Number: Measuring Numerical Stability

Quick fact

A problem with a condition number of 10^k can amplify input errors by a factor of about 10^k, meaning that a 1% input error could become a 50% output error for a condition number of around 50.

Why this is interesting

Have you ever noticed that even a tiny change in a measurement can sometimes cause a wildly different result? Why do some calculations seem to magnify small errors while others don't?