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From: Simon Wright <simon@pushface.org>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Subject: Re: How would Ariane 5 have behaved if overflow checking were
 notturned off?
Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2011 15:16:12 +0000
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"robin" <robin51@dodo.com.au> writes:

> An error handler would have rescued the mission.

Errm - if the fixed-point type used for horizontal velocity was say

   delta 2.0**-14 range -2.0 .. 2.0

the compiler would almost certainly have packed it so that there were no
spare bits; 1.9999 would be represented as 16#3fff#. So if the value
that is to be fitted into this type is >= 2.0, there is no way to
represent it and any calculations based on the velocity over the ground
as stored would be garbage.

Mission almost certainly over, I think.