nan disappear when printing

Hello,
I was hoping you would be able to help me with a problem which I don't understand.
At some point in my program I am getting a not-a-number value for a certain parameter which later causes an error.
However, when I was trying to find the reason for the nan by printing the parameters that compose it - the problem disappears. All the parameters seem to have a value and the error is gone.
Any advice as for how to start debugging this???
Many thanks!
Liat.

How about posting the code? My crystal ball is on vacation.

Let me ask you a question: If your car breaks down, do walk into the mechanic's shop without it, and go: "Hey, my car's broken. Can you fix it for me?"

>Let me ask you a question: If your car breaks down, do walk into the mechanic's shop without it, and go: "Hey, my car's broken. Can you fix it for me?"
I would. How would you get to the shop?

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I would. How would you get to the shop?

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In the tow truck?

I'm poor.



okay you're right.

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Originally Posted by liats80

Hello,
I was hoping you would be able to help me with a problem which I don't understand.
At some point in my program I am getting a not-a-number value for a certain parameter which later causes an error.
However, when I was trying to find the reason for the nan by printing the parameters that compose it - the problem disappears. All the parameters seem to have a value and the error is gone.
Any advice as for how to start debugging this???
Many thanks!
Liat.

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If adding print statements for debugging changes the program behavior, then it is likely that there is an uninitialized variable somewhere.

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Originally Posted by robwhit

>Let me ask you a question: If your car breaks down, do walk into the mechanic's shop without it, and go: "Hey, my car's broken. Can you fix it for me?"
I would. How would you get to the shop?

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Originally Posted by laserlight

In the tow truck?

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Exactly. Either way, people don't normally go to the mechanic without the car, do they?

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Originally Posted by IceDane

Exactly. Either way, people don't normally go to the mechanic without the car, do they?

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Alernatively, you ask the mechanic to come to the car.

But when it comes to code, it's usually easier to show the code to us here than it is to get one of us to come to the code.

Another consideration would be to enable "numerical exceptions" - so that when you get the NaN result, it traps immediately, rather than keep on using it further in the calculations.

And having bugs disappear when adding debug statements isn't entirely uncommon - it's even got a name, "Heisenbug" after Heisenbergs uncertainty theorem.

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Mats

Hi guys,
Thanks! Especially to brewbuck (who is the only one who actually gave me an answer...)
Sorry for not posting the code, my program is HUGE and I didn't think any of you would like to read it all (also I don't think I can actually post it). The parameters are defined in different files and as you already know - I have no idea where the problem is, so I can't just post part of the code.
Anyways - knowing that there might be an uninitialized parameter will probably help me find the problem.
Thanks again.
Liat.

Right, I actually gave a "valid" suggestion too, to enable math exceptions in your code to detect the cause of the NaN more immediately - and I've got another suggestion: Try to cut your code "in halfes" - that is, you stop halfway and check if the values are sane. If they are, the fault is in the other half of the calculation.

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Mats