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Re: The current proposal



And, again, what do we mean by "infinity as a number?"  In 754,
we had Inf - Inf = NaN, because there is no logical way of defining
the result as a number, but, in 1788, we MAY (if we want)
define Inf - Inf = [-Inf,Inf];  the latter has a valid interpretation.

Baker

On 2/26/2009 11:08 AM, Ian McIntosh wrote:

VL> "Infinity as number" is buggy. For instance, with the above point of
VL> view, if F(x) = (x+1)-x, then F(Inf) = (Inf+1)-Inf = Inf-Inf = 0.

Under IEEE 754, F(Inf) = (Inf+1)-Inf = Inf-Inf = NaN, not 0.

- Ian McIntosh Toronto IBM Lab 8200 Warden D2-445 905-413-3411



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R. Baker Kearfott,    rbk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx   (337) 482-5346 (fax)
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Department of Mathematics, University of Louisiana at Lafayette
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