We present new perturbation analyses. for the Cholesky factorization A
= R(T)R of a symmetric positive definite matrix A. The analyses more
accurately reflect the sensitivity of the problem than previous normwi
se results. The condition numbers here are altered by any symmetric pi
voting used in PAP(T) = R(T)R, and both numerical results and an analy
sis show that the standard method of pivoting is optimal in that it us
ually leads to a condition number very close to its lower limit for an
y given A. It follows that the computed R will probably have greatest
accuracy when we use the standard symmetric pivoting strategy. Initial
ly we give a thorough analysis to obtain both first-order and strict n
ormwise perturbation bounds which are as tight as possible, leading to
a definition of an optimal condition number for the problem. Then we
use this approach to obtain reasonably clear first-order and strict co
mponentwise perturbation bounds. We complete the work by giving a much
simpler normwise analysis which provides a somewhat weaker bound, but
which allows us to estimate the condition of the problem quite well w
ith an efficient computation. This simpler analysis also shows why the
factorization is often less sensitive than we previously thought, and
adds further insight into why pivoting usually gives such good result
s. We derive a useful upper bound on the condition of the problem when
we use pivoting.