[Python-Dev] Re: PEP239 (Rational Numbers) Reference Implementation and new issues (original) (raw)

David Abrahams David Abrahams" <david.abrahams@rcn.com
Thu, 3 Oct 2002 08:34:42 -0400

From: "Andrew Koenig" <ark@research.att.com>

Oren> Any calculation involving a floating point number should taint Oren> the result with inexactitude and yield a floating point result.

Even comparisons?

Well, comparisons are tainted already in some sense, because you don't know how much error there is in any given number.

FWIW, Boost just accepted an interval arithmetic library which does computation with a closed range of floating point numbers, making it possible to know just how fuzzy any given computation is.

       David Abrahams * Boost Consulting

dave@boost-consulting.com * http://www.boost-consulting.com