Question Request for suitable reading materials dealing with Data Accuracy

micki_free

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Hi all

I am currently working on a project for University that requres me to examine data and how its accuracy can be maintained.

Specifically I am examining where the responsiblity for the accuracy of Data should lie. Whether it is the DBMS, the database as designed by the administrator, the interface that is used to communicate with the database or the user.

Does anyone have any reccomendations for suitable reading? Ideally I would like something that details the different layers of a system (the DBMS, database, interface, user) and which describes the benefits and pitfalls of using them to ensure the accuracy of data
 
don't you know enough to think this through yourself?

the main point is that not every real number can be stored digitally. Not just transcendental numbers, such as pi, e, root2 etc, but just certain random fractions such as 1/3 or 1/7, cannot be completely represented in a binary format.

so the first issue is that it is just not possible to store every real number perfectly, and the second (resulting partly from the first) is that adopting a fixed size record length to store a value will then introduce further accuracy errors.

from an application point of view, its then a matter of how accurate the system designer needs the data to be - at some level there as an atomic (or discrete perhaps) level at which data should be stored/made available -

financial applications are an obvious example where this might be important - ie it might be appropriate to store the price of an item in strictly illegal prices - eg in UK petrol stations, prices are often 87.9 pence/litre, but the calculated price can only be in round pence.
Again, calculating sales tax (VAT in UK) can introduce rounding errors depending on the calculation method used.

Scientific caclulations are also affected - I don't know how important it is in flight navigation systems for instance, but no doubt the accuracy to which pi is stored in a system, for example, will affect calculations to a greater or lesser extent.

As I say, I would have thought this whole area was something that could be thought through from first principles.
 
Whoa guys no need to get so antsy

I'm just looking for some reading on this subject and I was figuring you guys could help. e.g. information on how ensuring the accuracy of data has evolved from the days of flat files to 2009.

I figured you guys might have read some interesting material on the subejct. Obviously it depends on how accrate you want data to eb but assuming you want it in a particular format or a particular length then where should the responsiblity lie and what are the arguments for putting it on the user/DBMS/DB/interface?
 

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