probably because 1/10, 1/100, etc is not exactly representable in binary.
It is presumably a function of the decimal-to-binary conversion program
in the (C? library), and is not specific to Maxima or even Lisp.
Milan Lukic wrote:
>(C185) 57.50+14.95+18.95+8.95+22.95+12.95+7.95+6.95+19.95+12.95+8.95+9.95+
>16.95+19.95+11.95;
>
>(D185) 251.7999999999999
>
>Anybody has an idea why Maxima produced 251.799.... instead of 251.8?
>
>Milan
>
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