From: Lynn Killingbeck <killbeck@phoenix.net>
Subject: Re: floating point comparison
Date: 1997/08/10
Date: 1997-08-10T00:00:00+00:00 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <33EE3D26.54CD@phoenix.net> (raw)
In-Reply-To: 33EAD17D.3E91@imbi.uni-freiburg.de
Jan-Christoph Puchta wrote:
>
> Dave Sparks wrote:
> > But I've seen a program where one of the inputs was a temperature
> > in degrees Centigrade, in the range 10 to 50 with no fractional
> > part. The calculated results were displayed to six decimal places -
> > very misleading.
>
> Not so misleading. Many just laugh about it.
>
> As a physicist told me: First digit nice, second digit guessed, third
> digit lied.
>
> But try to explain this to someone who is proud of his PhD in medicine
> ...
>
> JCP
I like A.K. Dewdney's term from '200% of Nothing', at the end of chapter
3, under 'The 226.8 Gram Canary'. "... dramadigits, ... add a certain
drama ... the more there are ..."
Lynn Killingbeck
next prev parent reply other threads:[~1997-08-10 0:00 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 105+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
1997-07-29 0:00 floating point comparison Matthew Heaney
1997-07-30 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1997-07-30 0:00 ` Matthew Heaney
1997-07-31 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1997-07-31 0:00 ` Martin Tom Brown
1997-07-31 0:00 ` Bob Binder (remove .mapson to email)
1997-07-31 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1997-08-01 0:00 ` Dale Stanbrough
1997-08-04 0:00 ` Paul Eggert
1997-08-06 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1997-08-14 0:00 ` Paul Eggert
1997-08-01 0:00 ` user
1997-08-02 0:00 ` Peter L. Montgomery
1997-08-04 0:00 ` W. Wesley Groleau x4923
1997-08-05 0:00 ` Bob Binder (remove .mapson to email)
1997-08-02 0:00 ` Lynn Killingbeck
1997-08-03 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1997-08-03 0:00 ` Bob Binder (remove .mapson to email)
1997-08-03 0:00 ` Charles R. Lyttle
1997-07-31 0:00 ` Samuel Mize
1997-08-02 0:00 ` Lynn Killingbeck
1997-07-30 0:00 ` Matthew Heaney
1997-07-31 0:00 ` Jim Carr
1997-07-31 0:00 ` Gerald Kasner
1997-07-31 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1997-07-30 0:00 ` Jan Galkowski
1997-07-31 0:00 ` Don Taylor
1997-07-31 0:00 ` Russ Lyttle
1997-08-01 0:00 ` W. Wesley Groleau x4923
1997-08-02 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1997-08-02 0:00 ` Matthew Heaney
1997-08-03 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1997-08-04 0:00 ` W. Wesley Groleau x4923
1997-08-05 0:00 ` Jan-Christoph Puchta
1997-08-05 0:00 ` W. Wesley Groleau x4923
1997-08-05 0:00 ` Samuel Mize
1997-08-06 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1997-08-07 0:00 ` Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz
1997-08-08 0:00 ` Peter Shenkin
1997-08-09 0:00 ` Albert Y.C. Lai
1997-08-06 0:00 ` Chris L. Kuszmaul
1997-08-07 0:00 ` Dave Sparks
1997-08-08 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1997-08-08 0:00 ` Jan-Christoph Puchta
1997-08-09 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1997-08-10 0:00 ` Lynn Killingbeck [this message]
1997-08-08 0:00 ` Mark Eichin
[not found] ` <5sbb90$qsc@redtail.cruzio.com>
[not found] ` <5scugs$jdc$1@cnn.nas.nasa.gov>
1997-08-07 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1997-08-08 0:00 ` Gerhard Heinzel
1997-08-08 0:00 ` schlafly
1997-08-08 0:00 ` Daniel Villeneuve
1997-08-09 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1997-08-09 0:00 ` David Ullrich
1997-08-10 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1997-08-16 0:00 ` Andrew V. Nesterov
1997-08-18 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1997-08-19 0:00 ` Jim Carr
1997-08-21 0:00 ` Christian Bau
1997-08-21 0:00 ` Jim Carr
1997-08-21 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1997-08-22 0:00 ` Jim Carr
1997-08-22 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1997-08-23 0:00 ` Jim Carr
1997-08-24 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1997-08-29 0:00 ` Andrew V. Nesterov
1997-08-29 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
[not found] ` <340DF1DD.2736@iop.com>
1997-09-07 0:00 ` Get_Immediate Robert Dewar
1997-09-07 0:00 ` Get_Immediate Robert Dewar
1997-09-08 0:00 ` Get_Immediate J Giffen
[not found] ` <5u4eq6$30b$1@news.lth.se>
1997-08-29 0:00 ` floating point comparison Robert Dewar
1997-09-01 0:00 ` Chris RL Morgan
1997-09-01 0:00 ` Jim Carr
[not found] ` <checkerEFx6xI.FCM@netcom.com>
1997-09-03 0:00 ` Chris L. Kuszmaul
1997-09-05 0:00 ` Malome Khomo
1997-09-07 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1997-09-05 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1997-09-10 0:00 ` Jim Carr
1997-09-12 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1997-09-15 0:00 ` James Pauley
1997-09-16 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1997-08-23 0:00 ` W. Wesley Groleau x4923
1997-08-23 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1997-08-19 0:00 ` Hans Olsson
1997-08-30 0:00 ` Paul Eggert
1997-08-06 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
[not found] ` <33E8E3E1.17EA@pseserv3.fw.hac.com>
[not found] ` <5sbgpk$q0n$1@goanna.cs.rmit.edu.au>
1997-08-07 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
[not found] ` <33FE4603.1B6B@pseserv3.fw.hac.com>
1997-08-23 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1997-08-08 0:00 ` W. Wesley Groleau x4923
1997-08-06 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1997-08-07 0:00 ` Dr. Rex A. Dwyer
[not found] ` <33E8DFF6.6F44@pseserv3.fw.hac.com>
1997-08-07 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
[not found] ` <33EA1251.3466@link.com>
[not found] ` <33EA46CC.226@pseserv3.fw.hac.com>
1997-08-08 0:00 ` Christian Bau
1997-08-12 0:00 ` Martin Tom Brown
1997-08-23 0:00 ` W. Wesley Groleau x4923
1997-08-23 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1997-09-05 0:00 ` Robert I. Eachus
1997-09-06 0:00 ` schlafly
1997-09-09 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1997-09-07 0:00 ` M. J. Saltzman
1997-09-11 0:00 ` Robin Rosenberg
1997-08-07 0:00 ` Do-While Jones
1997-08-03 0:00 ` Brian Rogoff
1997-08-03 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1997-08-02 0:00 ` Michael Sierchio
1997-08-08 0:00 ` floating point conversions Mark Lusti
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