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It occurs in financial calculations all the time. Anything that uses
decimal calculations instead of binary calculations runs into the
problem that many decimal numbers (such as 0.1) can't be represented
exactly with a binary floating point number no matter how many bits
of binary precision you use. That's why many use high or infinite
precision decimal arithmetic and don't worry about binary floating
point inaccuracies. At least that way they don't have to be a math
expert to figure out whether it's safe or not and different
implementations will come up with the same answer.
Don Bate
At 12:56 PM -0700 8/29/03, Tim Bray wrote:
>Roger L. Costello wrote:
>
>>What are your thoughts on this? What techniques do people use to avoid
>>introducing roundoff errors? /Roger
>
>Use FORTRAN, it supports REAL numbers, it says so right in the syntax :)
>
>I'm curious; what applications require more precision than IEEE double? -Tim
>
>
>
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--
Don Bate | Specializing in Consulting and Mentoring in
Bate Consulting, Inc | Object-Oriented Technologies,
| Software Architecture, and Software Process
(972) 618-0208 voice
(972) 618-0216 fax
donbate@iadfw.net
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