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From: brnstnd@kramden.acf.nyu.edu (Dan Bernstein)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: Log Library - How is it done in the library code?
Message-ID: <19320:Mar1422:41:0291@kramden.acf.nyu.edu>
Date: 14 Mar 91 22:41:02 GMT
References: <1991Mar11.022141.12068@m.cs.uiuc.edu> <1119@caslon.cs.arizona.edu> <1294@dkunix9.dk.oracle.com>
Organization: IR
Lines: 16
X-Right-Newsgroups: comp.programming

In article <1294@dkunix9.dk.oracle.com> bengsig@dk.oracle.com (Bjorn Engsig) writes:
> Article <1119@caslon.cs.arizona.edu> by dave@cs.arizona.edu (Dave P. Schaumann) says:
> |Trancendental functions are generally modeled with a Taylor-series expansion.
> |(Check your favorite calculus books for what a Taylor series is,
> Taylor-series are only of mathematical value.  As a computational tool, they
> are absolutely worthless.

This is not true. Contrary to popular myth, Taylor series can be used
quite effectively for numerical solutions of differential equations.
They'll even tell you when the solution is becoming unstable. See
Moore's interval analysis book for more details.

In any case, it sounds like the original poster only needs a few digits
of accuracy; I'd use a large table.

---Dan