Thanks for your detailed and helpful response.
I tried using the format specs in SageTeX:
\newcommand{\sagenum}[1]{\sage{''temp1=#1;%12.3e"%temp1}}
This fails to compile as "%" is the comment character in LaTeX.
If I escape it with a backslash (as is customary in LaTeX), Sage
chokes on the code.
Catch 22.
On Mar 2, 3:54 pm, Jason Grout <[email protected]> wrote:
> On 3/2/11 12:04 PM, sm123123 wrote:
>
> > Is there any way to handle scientific precision in base 10 in a simple
> > way, using sage ?
>
> Yes. You could just use normal floating point numbers and then give the
> output format. This would use 53-bit precision for the calculations,
> but then the printing would follow your spec:
>
> sage: a=23.192-49.39291
> sage: "%12.3e"%a
> ' -2.620e+01'
>
> If you wanted to carry out the calculations with a different precision,
> you could try using RealField (this wraps the C MPFR library):
>
> sage: R=RealField(10) # 10 bits of precision
> sage: R('0.4')-R('2e3')
> -2000.
> sage: R('10')-R('2e3')
> -2000.
> sage: a=R('100')-R('2e3')
> sage: a
> -1900.
> sage: "%12.3e"%a
> ' -1.900e+03'
>
> For more information about the printf-like syntax, see:
>
> * printf-like
> syntax:http://docs.python.org/library/stdtypes.html#string-formatting-operat...
>
> * new, more powerful string formatting
> syntax:http://docs.python.org/library/string.html#format-string-syntax
>
> > The sense I have gotten so far is that numerical related work is an
> > afterthought in Sage and that it is really a professional
> > mathematician's workbench that could be coaxed or tweaked into being
> > useful for scientists who use math / numerics as a tool, and not an
> > end in itself.
>
> > I have nothing against mathematicians (btw).
>
> Historically, the algebraic/combinatoric side of Sage has had a lot more
> attention than the numerical side. However, Sage also includes some
> very good standard numerical tools and packages that have been developed
> outside of the Sage community. The number of developers working on Sage
> numerical aspects is also increasing.
>
> Keep your comments and questions coming. I would like to see Sage
> numerical capabilities get easier to use.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jason
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