5 ms·

The Google Calculator returns incorrect results for the range: 16384.69 - 16384.58 (0.10999999999) 16385.69 - 16385.58 (0.10999999999) ... 32766.69 - 3

• Piskvorrr 11y ago
  You say "incorrect", I say "incompatible assumptions". http://blog.reverberate.org/2014/09/what-every-computer-programmer-should.html http://blog.reverberate.org/2014/09/what-every-computer-prog... (TL;DR: Floating point arithmetic on binary numbers doesn't translate into decimal numbers intuitively, "weird" rounding errors appear.)
  • brudgers 11y ago
    What is interesting is that, given its massive scale, Google is not performing decimal arithmetic for users. It's not that I don't understand why it isn't, but I think it highlights Google's values in regard to meeting the needs of ordinary people: e.g. how is a school teacher supposed to explain this to third graders?
    • Piskvorrr 11y ago
      Good question. I'm in no way connected to Google, but I'm guessing this calculator could be a toy held together by string and duct tape, without any deeper thought having gone into its handling of numbers - floats being the default for non-integer numbers, it's likely that they were used; decimals require more coding and attention.