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From: scott@bbxsda.UUCP (Scott Amspoker)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: Here's a challenge for floating point lovers.
Message-ID: <1700@bbxsda.UUCP>
Date: 5 Feb 91 22:17:18 GMT
References: <14964@smoke.brl.mil> <101@tdatirv.UUCP> <2855@charon.cwi.nl> <14993@smoke.brl.mil> <3322@unisoft.UUCP> <1991Jan29.173341.11899@zoo.toronto.edu>
Reply-To: scott@bbxsda.UUCP (Scott Amspoker)
Organization: Basis International,  Albuquerque, NM
Lines: 15

In article <1991Jan29.173341.11899@zoo.toronto.edu> henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes:
>In general, despite Doug's distaste for its complexity, IEEE floating
>point is an order of magnitude superior to the rest.  It was designed
>by people who understood numerical arithmetic.

The designers didn't necessarily understand business arithmetic.  It's a
pain in the rear trying to manage rounding errors and arbitrary *decimal*
precisions with a format that is fundamentally radix 2.  Other than that
it's a great format.

-- 
Scott Amspoker                       | 
Basis International, Albuquerque, NM |     This space available
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