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We present a zero hardware-overhead design approach called reciprocative error compensation (REC) that significantly enhances the energy-accuracy trade-off gains in inexact signal processing datapaths by using a two-pronged approach: (a) deliberately redesigning the basic arithmetic blocks to effectively compensate for each other's (expected) error through inexact logic minimization, and (b) "reshaping" the response waveforms of the systems being designed to further reduce any residual error. We apply REC to several DSP primitives such as the FFT and FIR filter blocks, and show that this approach delivers 2-3 orders of magnitude lower (expected) error and more than an order of magnitude lesser Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) loss (in dB) over the previously proposed inexact design techniques, while yielding similar energy gains. Post-layout comparisons in the 65nm process technology show that our REC …