RE: Edge case conversions, exceptions to IEEE FPA
Probably not for this standard, but how about adding arbitrary rational
numbers to the standard? There have been some programming environments
where we could manipulate exact rational numbers like 1/3, and they
often occur as coefficients.
Of course, we can always treat them as 1.0 /3.0 with exactly represented
1 and 3.
-----Original Message-----
From: stds-1788@xxxxxxxx [mailto:stds-1788@xxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of R.
Baker Kearfott
Sent: Tuesday, November 11, 2008 6:04 AM
To: Paul Zimmermann
Cc: Arnold.Neumaier@xxxxxxxxxxxx; stds-1788@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: Edge case conversions, exceptions to IEEE FPA
Paul,
Yes. I agree with your philosophy, and I also accept your
correction. I was thinking of converting '0.1' to a binary
format. Of course, if we convert '0.1' to a decimal
format, my view would be that it should be a singleton
interval, consistent with the rounding modes specified
in 754-2008.
Baker
P.S. Although the following comment might be slightly out-of-order,
bringing up decimal
arithmetic, on second thought, is intriguing. Since there are two
factors (2 and 5) in the base, a larger range of numbers can be
represented exactly. Because of that, there might be less
build-up of
overestimation in some instances when decimal interval arithmetic
is used.