On Sun, Apr 26, 2015 at 12:22:21PM -0500, Jason Resch wrote: > On Fri, Apr 24, 2015 at 9:59 PM, Russell Standish <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > Not sure I follow you here. Arbitrary precision does not mean infinite > > precision. If I want my calculation to be accurate to 300 digits, then > > it can be calculated to 300 digits precision within finite time. If I > > then want it to 600 digits, I can do that also, but very likely it > > will 10^300 times as long. > > > > Doesn't it only double the amount of processing time to go from 300 digit > precision numbers to 600 digit precision numbers? >
Depends on the algorithm. To compute the addition of two numbers, you need only double the time for double precision. Multiplication is quadratic if I remember my primary school arithmetic correctly (don't quote me on this). But computing polynomial approximations to transcendental functions takes way longer, as many more terms are required to achieve the stated precision. -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prof Russell Standish Phone 0425 253119 (mobile) Principal, High Performance Coders Visiting Professor of Mathematics [email protected] University of New South Wales http://www.hpcoders.com.au ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
