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Re: MachinePrecision vs. Arbitrary Precision
Posted:
Apr 29, 2011 6:34 AM
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Bill Rowe <readnews@sbcglobal.net> writes:
> On 4/27/11 at 5:39 AM, worthless.trash.junk@gmail.com (Rafael Dunn)
> wrote:
>
>>In:=
>>N[Sin[Exp[100]]]
>>N[Sin[Exp[100]], 1]
>>N[Sin[Exp[100]], 11]
>
>>Out:=
>>-0.999105
>>0.1
>>0.14219812366
>
>>I realize that N[exp] = N[exp, MachinePrecision]. This indicates
>>when N[] is asked to calculate to MachinePrecision,
>
> More specifically, this asks hardware to do the required computation.
>
>>it produces an incorrect result in this example.
>
> That is due to the limitations of floating point arithmetic as
> implemented in hardware. The actual result you get will vary
> according to what hardware is being used.
To emphasize that this is the result from hardware here is a program in
the C programming language:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <math.h>
int main(void)
{
printf("%g\n", sin(exp(100)));
return 0;
}
And here is its output:
-0.999105
Scott
--
Scott Hemphill hemphill@alumni.caltech.edu
"This isn't flying. This is falling, with style." -- Buzz Lightyear
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