Frequently Asked Questions
Herbie automatically transforms floating point expressions into more accurate forms. This page catalogs questions frequently asked questions about Herbie.
Several Herbie error messages refer to this page for additional information and debugging tips.
This error is most likely due to an error in preparing the input
to Herbie. Common errors include misspelling function names and
parenthesizing expressions that must not be parenthesized. The
stack trace will contain additional information. For example, in
the expression (- (exp (x)) 1), the use
of x as invalid because x is a variable,
so cannot be parenthesized. (- (exp x) 1) would
be the correct way of describing that expression.
Herbie uses random sampling to select the points which it will use
to evaluate the error of an expression. This error occurs when it
is not able to find enough valid points. For example, consider the
expression (acos (+ 1000 x)). This expression yields
a valid result only when x is between -1001 and -999,
a rather narrow range.
The solution is to give a distribution
which specifies the bounds on x by adding the line
:herbie-samplers ([x (uniform -1001 -999)]) after the
parameter list.