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From: ark@alice.UucP (Andrew Koenig)
Newsgroups: net.lang.c
Subject: Re:  C Floating point arithmetic
Message-ID: <4666@alice.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 6-Dec-85 01:13:12 EST
Article-I.D.: alice.4666
Posted: Fri Dec  6 01:13:12 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 7-Dec-85 03:04:58 EST
References: <618@ttrdc.UUCP>
Organization: Bell Labs, Murray Hill
Lines: 19

>>	float a,b;
>>
>>	a = b + 1.0;	/* Gets done in double because 1.0 is a double.
>>			Gag me with a spoon. */
>
>Nah, gets done in single because the compiler realizes that 1.0 has
>the same representation in single and double, and therefore that
>the result of the addition will be the same.

... to which Dan Levy gives detailed evidence that his machine
does it in double.

Apparently some people don't recognize irony; let me try to make
the same point more clearly.

The point is that most floating-point constants are very simple: 1.0,
0.0, sometimes 2.0.  It doesn't take much to recognize such constants
and do the operations in single.  This is true even if your compiler isn't
up to it.