ill-conditioned.

So sensitive to input changes that small errors in the data can produce large changes in the solution.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• ill-conditioned matrix
• ill-conditioned system
• severely ill-conditioned problem

On the page

The ill-conditioned system magnified small rounding errors.

A large condition number explained why the estimated coefficients changed so sharply.

Usage notes

Primary category: academic / formal / analytical. Lexical Type: Word. Forms: Adjective ill-conditioned; comparative more ill-conditioned and superlative most ill-conditioned when comparing numerical sensitivity. Commonness: uncommon (editorial estimate; not a corpus frequency statistic). Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1; numbered fields keep each relevant meaning separate. Research distinction: Cornell lecture directly read: tiny data errors can cause large answer changes; condition number measures amplification of relative error. Sensitivity is a property of the problem, not only an algorithm. It may occur in an otherwise well-posed problem. Individually useful in research, criticism, methodology or conceptual analysis. Definitions and examples are original; no mood or intensity assigned to neutral analytical concepts. Commonness is an editorial estimate, not a frequency statistic. Writing functions: error amplification in estimation, sensitivity distinct from algorithmic instability.