Roundoff errors in the problem of computing Cauchy principal value integrals

Abstract

We investigate the possibility of fast, accurate and reliable computation of the Cauchy principal value integrals $\mathrm{P}\!\int_{a}^{b} f(x)(x-\tau)^{-1} dx$ $(a < \tau < b)$ using standard adaptive quadratures. In order to properly control the error tolerance for the adaptive quadrature and to obtain a~reliable estimation of the approximation error, we research the possible influence of round-off errors on the computed result. As the numerical experiments confirm, the proposed method can successfully compete with other algorithms for computing such type integrals. Moreover, the presented method is very easy to implement on any system equipped with a reliable adaptive integration subroutine