On Wednesday 05 March 2008 22:31, David kerber wrote: > If it doesn't correspond to the real number, then it's inexact. Take > the calculation 7 divided by 10. The correct answer is 0.7 (seven > tenths). If you try this in a binary computer, you do not get the > correct answer; you get the the closest number that floating-point > numbers can come to 0.7, but it is not exactly 0.7, and therefore is > inexact, or inaccurate if you prefer that term.
No - it's exact, but inaccurate. Just as the number 0.333333333 is exact, but inaccurate if it's the result of dividing 1 by 3. However the floating point unit does have several rounding modes, in some cases the stored result may differ depending on the rounding mode in use. Regards Brian Beesley _______________________________________________ Prime mailing list [email protected] http://hogranch.com/mailman/listinfo/prime
