Decimal Arithmetic - FAQ (original) (raw)
Most computers today support binary floating-point in hardware. While suitable for some purposes, such as mathematical analysis, this form of arithmetic is unsuitable for financial, commercial, and human-centric (such as Web) applications. These pages explain why this is so, and also attempt to answer some common questions about decimal floating-point arithmetic.
Please send any comments, new questions, and corrections directly to me (Mike Cowlishaw,mfc@speleotrove.com).
For information on decimal implementations, standards, and other links, please see theGeneral Decimal Arithmetic page.
Contents
- General
- Why the increasing emphasis on decimal arithmetic?
- What problems are caused by using binary floating-point?
- Do applications actually use decimal data?
- Why are trailing fractional zeros important?
- How much precision and range is needed for decimal arithmetic?
- What rounding modes are needed for decimal arithmetic?
- Which programming languages support decimal arithmetic?
- What disadvantages are there in using decimal arithmetic?
- Definitions
- Decimal Arithmetic and Hardware
- Decimal Arithmetic Specification
- Decimal Encodings
- Miscellaneous