Skip to main content

For questions about calculating or interpreting condition numbers. Most commonly refers to the condition number of a matrix, but can be applied generally to analyzing the error in a function based on error in the input.

A condition number relates the error/deviation in some function/transformation to the error/deviation in its inputs.

A problem with low condition number means low sensitivity to small changes in input values, making the problem "well-conditioned". A problem with a large condition number has high sensitivity to small changes in input values, making the problem "ill-conditioned".