Strange values and plot of the given function

Question

Suppose the function

f[s2_,m_,m2_] = (s2 - m^2 + m2^2 -Sqrt[m^4 - 2m^2(s2+m2^2) + (s2-m2^2)^2])/(s2 - m^2 + m2^2 +Sqrt[m^4 - 2m^2(s2+m2^2) + (s2-m2^2)^2])

defined on the domain

$m > 0, \quad m2 > 0, \quad s2\geqslant(m+m2)^2$

This is real positive function, tending to one at $s2 = (m+m2)^2$. Mathematica's output for f[(m+m2)^2,m,m2] gives 1, as it must be. But when I try to evaluate the function for particular values of arguments, say, f[(5+0.1)^2,5,0.1], it returns complex numbers with the imaginary part not negligibly small, 1. -9.34975*10^-7i!

Will this cause any problems in numerical simulations involving the function?

Answer 1

looks like floating point noise/rounding off related etc... Always safer to use Exact values, in particular since your function is complicated and has powers and sqrt roots all over.

 f[(5 + 1/10)^2, 5, 1/10]

Compare to

 f[(5+0.1)^2,5,0.1]