What is the opposite of a robust system?

Question

Matrix inversion is not robust in the sense that a small difference in the input can give a large difference in the output. Is there an appropriate word to describe such a system?

@DumpsterDoofus I know of that related concept, but it is quite specific and also isn't even an adjective. — Anna, Mar 04 '14 at 07:05

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered May 26 '14 at 23:44

1

Related to DumpsterDoofus's comment, I've always seen the adjective "ill-conditioned", which happens to be used on the wikipedia page for condition number

answered May 26 '14 at 23:44

Mark S.

23,925

flonk · Answer 2 · 2014-03-03T15:34:55.763

0

Sensitivity, or
sensitive dependence on the input.

Moreover, if your "system" consists of a repeated operation, e.g. $$x_n\to x_{n+1}=f(x_n)$$ the sensitive dependence of $x_n$ on the initial condition $x_0$ is denoted Chaos.

edited Mar 03 '14 at 15:34

answered Mar 03 '14 at 15:29

flonk

2,434

What is the opposite of a robust system?

2 Answers2