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Groups > comp.lang.c > #139020
| Subject | Re: A final word on casting. |
|---|---|
| Newsgroups | comp.lang.c |
| References | (4 earlier) <875zvki950.fsf@bsb.me.uk> <fabc96a8-762e-430e-a567-8658f60fe0d5@googlegroups.com> <QdOTD.34006$Ck1.30728@fx18.am4> <87pntsgm97.fsf@bsb.me.uk> <e7c60c93-f61b-418f-b0e1-0170f64e7687@googlegroups.com> |
| From | Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> |
| Message-ID | <0w5UD.95040$gU6.49594@fx33.iad> (permalink) |
| Organization | Forte - www.forteinc.com |
| Date | 2018-12-24 08:51 -0500 |
On 12/24/18 5:54 AM, Malcolm McLean wrote: > On Sunday, December 23, 2018 at 5:56:46 PM UTC, Ben Bacarisse wrote: >> Bart <bc@freeuk.com> writes: >> >>> Try this program, which starts from 1.0 then successively ends 0.9, >>> 0.09, 0.009 etc to get progressively longer versions of 1.999... >>> >>> It gets closer and closer to 2.0, but is never exactly 2.0: >> >> If you are going to do numerical work, you would need to understand >> what's happening but it's much simpler, for me, to leave you puzzled. I >> am not at all sure you really want to understand. If I'm wrong, and >> this is a part of C you'd like to learn, I will gladly explain. >> > In mathematical notation, 1.999... equals two, not two minus an > infinitesimal. A good compiler will have a patch to make sure a literal > resolves to the right value. > 1.999... only equals 2 if you have an infinite number of 9's, which you can't write in source code (C has no way to denote an infinitely repeating decimal part). The confusion was writing a decimal number that is clearly less than 2, that gets converted to the value 2 in the code, and the answer is that due to the finite precision of the floating point representation, with enough 9s at the end, 2.00000 is close enough to the value to be allowed, and even gets to the point where it is close enough to be the 'best' value. The fact that floating point values are approximations of real numbers, and keeping track of how accurate your answers are (or more precisely, keeping an estimate of your accuracy, as if you knew your error exactly you would be able to have an exact answer) is a tough job, but also often an important one.
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A final word on casting. chanrasjid@gmail.com - 2018-12-23 03:02 -0800
Re: A final word on casting. Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2018-12-23 12:11 +0000
Re: A final word on casting. Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2018-12-23 13:08 +0000
Re: A final word on casting. Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2018-12-23 14:43 +0000
Re: A final word on casting. Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2018-12-23 14:56 +0000
Re: A final word on casting. chanrasjid@gmail.com - 2018-12-23 07:08 -0800
Re: A final word on casting. Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2018-12-23 15:55 +0000
Re: A final word on casting. Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2018-12-23 16:07 +0000
Re: A final word on casting. James Kuyper <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2018-12-23 08:21 -0800
Re: A final word on casting. Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2018-12-23 17:56 +0000
Re: A final word on casting. Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2018-12-23 19:23 +0000
Re: A final word on casting. Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2018-12-23 20:12 +0000
Re: A final word on casting. James Kuyper <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2018-12-23 14:06 -0800
Re: A final word on casting. Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2018-12-28 09:34 -0800
Re: A final word on casting. Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2018-12-28 20:29 +0000
Re: A final word on casting. Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2018-12-28 15:07 -0800
Re: A final word on casting. Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> - 2018-12-28 20:56 -0500
Re: A final word on casting. Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2018-12-29 09:22 -0800
Re: A final word on casting. Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2019-01-01 13:27 -0800
Re: A final word on casting. Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2019-01-02 01:07 +0000
Re: A final word on casting. Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2019-01-03 18:55 +0000
Re: A final word on casting. Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> - 2019-01-03 22:27 -0500
Re: A final word on casting. James Kuyper <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2019-01-04 16:25 -0500
Re: A final word on casting. Ike Naar <ike@iceland.freeshell.org> - 2018-12-28 19:10 +0000
Re: A final word on casting. James Kuyper <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2018-12-28 12:33 -0800
Re: A final word on casting. "Chris M. Thomasson" <invalid_chris_thomasson@invalid.invalid> - 2018-12-23 14:11 -0800
Re: A final word on casting. Malcolm McLean <malcolm.arthur.mclean@gmail.com> - 2018-12-24 02:54 -0800
Re: A final word on casting. fir <profesor.fir@gmail.com> - 2018-12-24 03:24 -0800
Re: A final word on casting. fir <profesor.fir@gmail.com> - 2018-12-24 03:29 -0800
Re: A final word on casting. fir <profesor.fir@gmail.com> - 2018-12-24 03:45 -0800
Re: A final word on casting. Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2018-12-24 13:44 +0000
Re: A final word on casting. Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> - 2018-12-24 08:51 -0500
Re: A final word on casting. Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> - 2018-12-23 14:53 -0500
Re: A final word on casting. Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2018-12-24 09:39 -0600
Re: A final word on casting. Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> - 2018-12-24 13:38 -0500
Re: A final word on casting. Manfred <noname@add.invalid> - 2018-12-23 21:22 +0100
Re: A final word on casting. Manfred <noname@add.invalid> - 2018-12-23 21:33 +0100
Re: A final word on casting. James Kuyper <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2018-12-23 10:56 -0500
Re: A final word on casting. Sjouke Burry <burrynulnulfour@ppllaanneett.nnll> - 2018-12-23 17:18 +0100
Re: A final word on casting. Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2018-12-23 20:03 +0000
Re: A final word on casting. "Rick C. Hodgin" <rick.c.hodgin@gmail.com> - 2018-12-28 14:47 -0500
Re: A final word on casting. Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2018-12-23 12:24 +0000
Re: A final word on casting. Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> - 2018-12-23 07:28 -0500
Re: A final word on casting. Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2018-12-28 07:50 -0800
Re: A final word on casting. fir <profesor.fir@gmail.com> - 2018-12-23 04:35 -0800
Re: A final word on casting. fir <profesor.fir@gmail.com> - 2018-12-23 04:42 -0800
Re: A final word on casting. fir <profesor.fir@gmail.com> - 2018-12-23 04:52 -0800
Re: A final word on casting. James Kuyper <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2018-12-23 10:28 -0500
Re: A final word on casting. Barry Schwarz <schwarzb@dqel.com> - 2018-12-23 11:39 -0800
Re: A final word on casting. Ike Naar <ike@iceland.freeshell.org> - 2018-12-24 07:56 +0000
Re: A final word on casting. chanrasjid@gmail.com - 2018-12-24 14:03 -0800
Re: A final word on casting. Barry Schwarz <schwarzb@dqel.com> - 2018-12-24 14:39 -0800
Re: A final word on casting. chanrasjid@gmail.com - 2018-12-24 14:50 -0800
Re: A final word on casting. Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2018-12-24 15:34 -0800
Re: A final word on casting. Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2018-12-24 15:23 -0800
Re: A final word on casting. chanrasjid@gmail.com - 2018-12-24 20:34 -0800
Re: A final word on casting. Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2018-12-24 14:52 -0800
Re: A final word on casting. chanrasjid@gmail.com - 2018-12-24 20:25 -0800
Re: A final word on casting. James Kuyper <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2018-12-24 17:52 -0500
Re: A final word on casting. luser droog <luser.droog@gmail.com> - 2018-12-24 21:27 -0800
Re: A final word on casting. luser droog <luser.droog@gmail.com> - 2018-12-24 21:39 -0800
Re: A final word on casting. chanrasjid@gmail.com - 2018-12-24 22:36 -0800
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