CompuServe Messages

>…finite universe divide 10 by 3, in decimal, perfectly? >Even with 24 megabytes of memory, the "3" digits >would march on and there would be a loss of "perfection" somewhere. Exactly. (Though some number can be represented, it's still a matter of what we're talking about, and what `conversions' need to take place.) >It's a major breakthrough to realize that computers, despite their popular >reputation, are not always exact in the way they handle numbers. Yep, it's also a major breakthrough when folks realize (even though they know) that the fundamental builtin types in most languages have limits. >A good book on numeric methods will emphasize how the programmer needs to >take accuracy (and inaccuracy) into account during calculations. I couldn't agree with your more re this recommendation. (Ditto for that perhaps a better shot can be have using 'long' (in C), for instance and "doing it yourself".)