People, myself included, find rational fractions harder to grasp. E.g. 1.4
is easier on the eye than 7/5, or especially
70000000000000001/50000000000000001
Maybe there is a middle way with repeated decimals.
RJF
> -----Original Message-----
> From: maxima-bounces at math.utexas.edu
> [mailto:maxima-bounces at math.utexas.edu] On Behalf Of C Y
> Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2007 2:36 PM
> To: Stavros Macrakis
> Cc: maxima at math.utexas.edu
> Subject: Re: [Maxima] strange behaviour with simple decimals
>
> Stavros Macrakis wrote:
>
> > A more radical suggestion (which I don't really believe in)
> would be to
> > interpret floating-point notation as a way of inputting
> rationals, and do
> > rational arithmetic until forced to do otherwise (e.g.
> fractional powers
> > that aren't exact, trig function, etc.). But I don't see
> that this would
> > actually be useful.
>
> Useful, maybe not if your concern is numerical speed. It would,
> however, ensure that various unexpected behaviors are not observed in
> cases where people are accustomed to base 10 computation. I find the
> suggestion to be an interesting one.
>
> I wouldn't expect it to be useful in a numerical environment,
> but after
> all a symbolic computer algebra system is intended for different
> purposes than numerical libraries and it is a valid question - is the
> loss in speed worth the more intuitive (to a base ten accustomed user)
> output that would result? I don't know, but I would be reluctant to
> dismiss the idea out of hand.
>
> Cheers,
> CY
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