Re: 8.5 beta and decimal precision handling

On Fri, 28 Sep 2007, keithv wrote:

There are very good reasons for the change (shimmering
can no longer influence the value), but as Michael
suggests, to mitigate the above effect, you should
use [format] (and perhaps traces).

Yuck, that seems like a step backwards.

I learned from my FORTRAN days programming large statistical software packages on mainframes and minis to have great and abiding respect for floating point arithmetic, and moreover floating point comparison, and never to take things for granted. After all, as Leopold Kronecker succinctly stated "God created the integer, all else is the work of man".

Cheers,
Rob Sciuk
.

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