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Good Approximations

In: Wavelet Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Howard L. Resnikoff

    (Future WAVE Inc.)

  • Raymond O. Wells Jr.

    (Rice University, Department of Mathematics)

Abstract

Every measurement, whether the naked result of an impression on the human eye or ear, or the product of a sophisticated measuring instrument, is merely an approximation. We can know, and our computing machines can know, only a finite number of decimal places in the numerical representation of a distance or a weight or a force or a temperature.1 The eye has limited resolving power, the ear a limited frequency response, and comparable limitations hold for all other instruments whether biological or “mechanical.”These limitations are not merely due to poor “manufacturing technique”; as Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle tells us, they are inherent in the essence of things. Life and the universe depend on approximations. And so, too, does technology.

Suggested Citation

  • Howard L. Resnikoff & Raymond O. Wells Jr., 1998. "Good Approximations," Springer Books, in: Wavelet Analysis, chapter 2, pages 12-29, Springer.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-1-4612-0593-7_2
    DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4612-0593-7_2
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