> We did want to have enough precision to handle large numbers for both scientific calculations and in the unrealistic case it would be used to calculate the Un

> We did want to have enough precision to handle large numbers for both scientific calculations and in the unrealistic case it would be used to calculate the United States budget. Of course, as it turned out, that was one of the real applications. What a gem. I have to say, so many of the hackers from the past strike me as fundamentally humble people. Some might say they were naieve, but this is a wonderful cautionary tale about the value of worst case thinking.