5 ms·
Finance and scientific computing.
by gravypod 10y ago
Finance and scientific computing.
- foota 10y agoIs this for implementing faster high precision floating point? It didn't mention 128 bit float.
- gravypod 10y agoFor finance probably but it's mostly useful for statistics from what I understand. I know fortran and Cobol code that banks use and is used for science (tm) often defines numbers this large for certain operations. One such i can think of is a map reduce of large datasets. Let's say you want to find as a result a huge sum. 2^128 is a bit bigger then 2^64 and that difference may be big enough to provide the computation needed for getting to Mars rather then getting to the moon on 2^8 machines.
- foota 10y agoFun fact: there are ~2^50 millimetres from here to mars
- spladug 10y agoThere are? It looks closer to 2^14. 2^50mm is around 7.5 au. Sorry to nitpick, but I thought this was a super interesting point!
- Dylan16807 10y agoI assume you meant to type 47 rather than 14?
- foota 10y agoI rounded a bit over-zealously, thanks for nit picking. It is indeed 2^47.6333. (also assuming you meant 47 not 14.)
- spladug 10y agoWell, that's embarrassing. 2^47 it is! :)
- Keyframe 10y ago128i[3] would be enough for 390x observable universe discrete grid in Euclidean space with nanometer precision. Or 0.39 observable universe with picometer resolution.
- leereeves 10y agoWhat number in finance is bigger than 2^64?
- wtallis 10y agoThe sum of the whole planet's annual GDPs, expressed as US dollars with a precision of cents, requires about 53 bits. Choose a smaller unit or start considering long time spans, and you can easily get uncomfortably close to overflow.
- leereeves 10y agoWhy would you express GDPs, which are estimated to an accuracy of millions of US dollars, with a precision of US cents?
- wott 10y agoRiches are getting richer.
- justincormack 10y agoPOWER9 has hardware 128 bit float, so likely to start becoming relevant soon.