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Groups > comp.lang.c > #66229

Re: Floating point to string, and back via `%a'...

From Joe Pfeiffer <pfeiffer@cs.nmsu.edu>
Newsgroups comp.lang.c
Subject Re: Floating point to string, and back via `%a'...
Date 2015-07-22 19:49 -0600
Organization A noiseless patient Spider
Message-ID <1bvbdbr6cb.fsf@pfeifferfamily.net> (permalink)
References <moorva$su7$1@speranza.aioe.org> <lntwsw0vur.fsf@kst-u.example.com> <mop0bg$6r8$1@speranza.aioe.org> <lnk2tr28x9.fsf@kst-u.example.com> <mop1f6$9dv$1@speranza.aioe.org>

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"Chris M. Thomasson" <nospam@nospam.nospam> writes:

>> "Keith Thompson"  wrote in message
>> news:lnk2tr28x9.fsf@kst-u.example.com...
>
>> > "Chris M. Thomasson" <nospam@nospam.nospam> writes:
> [...]
>
>> > What do you think Keith?
>> >
>> > Even if the precision of the public key is beyond %.10, well, it
>> > does not matter because I can use it after the "rounding"
>> > (double=>string=>double). I will be sending the %.10 across the
>> > wire anyway. Humm...
>
>> "%a" (with appropriate length modifiers) should give you an exact
>> representation of any floating-point value, as long as FLT_RADIX is a
>> power of 2.
>
>
>> What do you mean by "public key"?  That term is mostly used in
>> cryptography.  Public keys are generally binary values that can be
>> represented as very long integers or as a sequence of hex digits.  Using
>> floating-point for public keys makes little or no sense.
>
> The public key is comprised of 4 floating point numbers that
> define a region of the complex plane. This   region is then
> used to generate a fractal based off of a private fractal
> comprised of a Julia set, iteration count, location, and some
> color pallet settings. The formulas and keys are used for the
> cipher:
>
> https://groups.google.com/d/topic/sci.crypt/g6CPhD9mh24/discussion

Using a floating point number in cryptography seems like it's really
fraught with peril.  The prospect of differing precisions, or even
errors in rounding algorithms on something like this seems like it's
just asking for bugs, if not today then a decade down the line when a
processor implementation changes.

I can imagine using a private floating point representation using a
custom floating point arithmetic library for something like this....
barely....

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Thread

Floating point to string, and back via `%a'... "Chris M. Thomasson" <nospam@nospam.nospam> - 2015-07-22 12:46 -0700
  Re: Floating point to string, and back via `%a'... James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2015-07-22 16:19 -0400
    Re: Floating point to string, and back via `%a'... "Chris M. Thomasson" <nospam@nospam.nospam> - 2015-07-22 13:49 -0700
      Re: Floating point to string, and back via `%a'... Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2015-07-22 14:01 -0700
      Re: Floating point to string, and back via `%a'... James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2015-07-22 17:18 -0400
        Re: Floating point to string, and back via `%a'... "Chris M. Thomasson" <nospam@nospam.nospam> - 2015-07-22 14:22 -0700
  Re: Floating point to string, and back via `%a'... Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2015-07-22 13:40 -0700
    Re: Floating point to string, and back via `%a'... "Chris M. Thomasson" <nospam@nospam.nospam> - 2015-07-22 14:01 -0700
      Re: Floating point to string, and back via `%a'... Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2015-07-22 14:12 -0700
        Re: Floating point to string, and back via `%a'... "Chris M. Thomasson" <nospam@nospam.nospam> - 2015-07-22 14:20 -0700
          Re: Floating point to string, and back via `%a'... "Chris M. Thomasson" <nospam@nospam.nospam> - 2015-07-22 14:24 -0700
          Re: Floating point to string, and back via `%a'... glen herrmannsfeldt <gah@ugcs.caltech.edu> - 2015-07-22 21:30 +0000
            Re: Floating point to string, and back via `%a'... "Chris M. Thomasson" <nospam@nospam.nospam> - 2015-07-22 14:39 -0700
          Re: Floating point to string, and back via `%a'... Joe Pfeiffer <pfeiffer@cs.nmsu.edu> - 2015-07-22 19:49 -0600
  Re: Floating point to string, and back via `%a'... Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2015-07-22 22:28 +0100
    Re: Floating point to string, and back via `%a'... "Chris M. Thomasson" <nospam@nospam.nospam> - 2015-07-22 14:34 -0700
      Re: Floating point to string, and back via `%a'... Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2015-07-22 14:58 -0700
        Re: Floating point to string, and back via `%a'... "Chris M. Thomasson" <nospam@nospam.nospam> - 2015-07-22 15:43 -0700
        Re: Floating point to string, and back via `%a'... "Chris M. Thomasson" <nospam@nospam.nospam> - 2015-07-22 15:45 -0700
        Re: Floating point to string, and back via `%a'... "Chris M. Thomasson" <nospam@nospam.nospam> - 2015-07-22 15:51 -0700
          Re: Floating point to string, and back via `%a'... Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2015-07-22 18:21 -0500
            Re: Floating point to string, and back via `%a'... Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2015-07-22 16:58 -0700
        Re: Floating point to string, and back via `%a'... Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2015-07-22 16:52 -0700
        Re: Floating point to string, and back via `%a'... Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2015-07-22 17:08 -0700
      Re: Floating point to string, and back via `%a'... Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2015-07-23 00:01 +0100
        Re: Floating point to string, and back via `%a'... "Chris M. Thomasson" <nospam@nospam.nospam> - 2015-07-22 19:40 -0700
          Re: Floating point to string, and back via `%a'... Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2015-07-22 22:32 -0700
          Re: Floating point to string, and back via `%a'... Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2015-07-23 11:07 +0100
            Re: Floating point to string, and back via `%a'... Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2015-07-23 11:25 +0100
              Re: Floating point to string, and back via `%a'... "Chris M. Thomasson" <nospam@nospam.nospam> - 2015-07-24 11:44 -0700
            Re: Floating point to string, and back via `%a'... "Chris M. Thomasson" <nospam@nospam.nospam> - 2015-07-24 11:47 -0700

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