On 4/27/24 17:02, ben via cctalk wrote:
Did any one need REAL BCD math like the Big Boys had?
No, this is a fallacy. Binary arithmetic is as "accurate"
as decimal. Handling VERY large numbers in floating point
loses some precision, but any computer can do multiple word
binary quite well. And, the obvious example is doing
division in decimal still can end up with remainders. Back
in the day, banks were terribly worried about defalcation by
the guys who maintain the daily interest program. The
classic story is the guy who adjusts the code to take those
fractional cents that get rounded back to the bank and sends
10% to their own account. Now, there are so many really
serious ways fraudsters can steal from banks and their
customers that nobody is too worried about that sort of
inside job.
Jon
