Topic summary
Mixed-precision
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Mixed-precision arithmetic.
Machine learning
Mixed-precision arithmetic is used in the field of machine learning, since gradient descent algorithms can use coarse and efficient half-precision floats for certain tasks, but can be more accurate if they use more precise but slower single-precision floats. Some platforms, including Nvidia, Intel, and AMD CPUs and GPUs, provide mixed-precision arithmetic for this purpose, using coarse floats when possible, but expanding them to higher precision when necessary.