On Thu, Apr 12, 2007 at 08:54:19PM -0400, sen1 at math.msu.edu wrote:
> Well,
> I have been trying to avoid coming in to this discussion. But, IMHO,
> maxima is for the use of scientists, not accountants (no
> disparagement intended). It really makes a difference whether you
> see 6 or 7 decimals or the standard 16 decimals of most floating
> point calculations.
I'm with you on scientists vs accountants, but I'm honestly surprised
that you want to see all those decimal digits. The only reason I can
think of to want to see them is to see if there's a difference
somewhere down the line... and when I want to know that I much prefer
asking explicitly:
fpprintprec:6;
(%i11) a:sqrt(2.0);
(%o11) 1.41421
(%i12) b:sqrt(2.00000001);
(%o12) 1.41421
(%i13) a-b;
(%o13) - 3.535534E-9
(%i14)
Now the difference between having 6 digits and 16 INTERNALLY is of
course extremely important.
I guess it all comes down to "to each his own"... but often the first
few lines of my maxima files are:
keepfloat:true;
fpprintprec:6;
--
Daniel Lakeland
dlakelan at street-artists.org
http://www.street-artists.org/~dlakelan