Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!mcnc!decvax!decwrl!16bits.dec.com!kruger
From: kruger@16bits.dec.com (Hart for CCCP chief in '88)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: base 10 float hardware
Message-ID: <8801141342.AA15537@decwrl.dec.com>
Date: 14 Jan 88 16:38:00 GMT
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Lines: 11

By definition, base 10 hardware must waste some circuitry, because you are
consciously deciding not to store the binary values 11-15, which you could
otherwise do. So you lose range, but gain precision for decimal calculations.

But this doesn't save you from precision errors, it only saves you fro
DECIMAL precision errors. What about (x/3)*3 ?

Incidentally, I suggest that the example (x*2)/2 should probably have been
(x/2)*2.

dov