R \cdot \sqrt{\left(\left(\lambda_1 - \lambda_2\right) \cdot \cos \left(\frac{\phi_1 + \phi_2}{2}\right)\right) \cdot \left(\left(\lambda_1 - \lambda_2\right) \cdot \cos \left(\frac{\phi_1 + \phi_2}{2}\right)\right) + \left(\phi_1 - \phi_2\right) \cdot \left(\phi_1 - \phi_2\right)}R \cdot \mathsf{hypot}\left(\left(\cos \left(\phi_2 \cdot 0.5\right) \cdot \cos \left(\phi_1 \cdot 0.5\right) - \sin \left(\phi_2 \cdot 0.5\right) \cdot \sin \left(\phi_1 \cdot 0.5\right)\right) \cdot \left(\lambda_1 - \lambda_2\right), \phi_1 - \phi_2\right)double code(double R, double lambda1, double lambda2, double phi1, double phi2) {
return (R * sqrt(((((lambda1 - lambda2) * cos(((phi1 + phi2) / 2.0))) * ((lambda1 - lambda2) * cos(((phi1 + phi2) / 2.0)))) + ((phi1 - phi2) * (phi1 - phi2)))));
}
double code(double R, double lambda1, double lambda2, double phi1, double phi2) {
return (R * hypot((((cos((phi2 * 0.5)) * cos((phi1 * 0.5))) - (sin((phi2 * 0.5)) * sin((phi1 * 0.5)))) * (lambda1 - lambda2)), (phi1 - phi2)));
}



Bits error versus R



Bits error versus lambda1



Bits error versus lambda2



Bits error versus phi1



Bits error versus phi2
Results
Initial program 39.1
Simplified3.9
Taylor expanded around inf 3.9
Simplified3.9
rmApplied distribute-lft-in3.9
Applied cos-sum0.1
Simplified0.1
Simplified0.1
rmApplied *-commutative0.1
Final simplification0.1
herbie shell --seed 2020049 +o rules:numerics
(FPCore (R lambda1 lambda2 phi1 phi2)
:name "Equirectangular approximation to distance on a great circle"
:precision binary64
(* R (sqrt (+ (* (* (- lambda1 lambda2) (cos (/ (+ phi1 phi2) 2))) (* (- lambda1 lambda2) (cos (/ (+ phi1 phi2) 2)))) (* (- phi1 phi2) (- phi1 phi2))))))