"Kryptolus C.L." wrote:
>
> S�ren Kuklau wrote:
> > On 3/25/2002 12:13 AM, Bamm Gabriana apparently wrote exactly the
> > following:
> >
> >>> That's like declaring that 1=2.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> It is.
> >>
> >> Let a=b.
> >> a^2 = a (multiply both sides by a)
> >
> >
> > That's only true for a=1 or a=0.
> >
> >> a^2 - 1 = a - 1 (subtract 1 from both sides)
> >
> >
> > Same as above.
> >
> >> (a + 1)(a - 1) = (a - 1) (factor it)
> >> (a + 1) = 1 (cancel common factors)
>
> If a is one as you said in the other post, (a-1) is zero and thus you'll
> be dividing the expression by zero which is not allowed.
> See link in my other post for more info.
Just be very watchfull of division by zero. IEEE floating point always
allows it because it makes sense. If a is not zero, a/0 is plus or minus
infinity depending on the sign of a. If a is zero, a/0 is NAN. As it
happens, these rules and a few others, though seeming silly, save hours
in screwing around with exception handling in numerical analysis.
Another good feature of IEEE floating point is it allows floating
underflow which is another condition that makes sense (VAX floating
point made floating underflow an error - a grievous architectural
blunder which I never understood).
Chuck
--
... The times have been,
That, when the brains were out,
the man would die. ... Macbeth
Chuck Simmons [EMAIL PROTECTED]
