Re: Large numbers (or is Ada the choice for me?)

["Marin David Condic" <marin.condic.auntie.spam@pacemicro.com>]

"David Starner" <dvdeug@x8b4e53cd.dhcp.okstate.edu> wrote in message
news:98bfb2$a2g1@news.cis.okstate.edu...
> Yes. Computers can handle fractions just fine with the appropriate
> package. I'm not sure it's feasible to have no approximations in a large
> system of linear equations, but it's possible.
>
Maybe a bad example - my point is that there exists a possibility of
generating numbers which are going to have an infinite number of decimal
places and memory only goes so far. Hence, you're going to need some sort of
approximation. Picking a rather large upper limit for that approximation is
probably good enough.

For matrix stuff, you might theoretically be able to handle the math
entirely in fractions, but would you like the solution in our lifetime? :-)
(Simulated big number math is probably bad enough!)

MDC
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Marin David Condic
Senior Software Engineer
Pace Micro Technology Americas    www.pacemicro.com
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