>
>
>Since floor uses bfloat internally, this seems like a very roundabout,
>computationally expensive, and potentially incorrect way of calculating the
>continued fraction of a power. It would be much more straightforward and
>computationally efficient (though possibly just as likely to be incorrect)
>to do cf(bfloat(...)),fpprec:xxx with some sort of loop increasing the
>fpprec as needed. And that would work for *arbitrary* expressions, not just
>a^b.
>
>
Bfloat computations seem to be correct for irrational numbers as the
result can be easily validated using
the fact that 1/(a+x) is a monotonous function of x.
It seems one should be careful with rational numbers. It apppears one
has to trust maxima's
capability of recognizing rational numbers (using the ratnump predicate).
Michel