3 ms·
I think the problem is that the numerator and denominator in reduced form can easily get pretty big, even if the magnitude of the number itself isn't all that b
by throwaway080383 9y ago
I think the problem is that the numerator and denominator in reduced form can easily get pretty big, even if the magnitude of the number itself isn't all that big. E.g. in the rational number
1 + 1/2 + 1/3 + ... + 1/24,
the denominator already can't fit in a 32-bit int.
- wiml 9y agoYou can reasonably efficiently find the nearest rational number whose numerator and denominator fit in a given sized type. This means your rationals are imprecise, just like floats; the sparse subset of numbers they can represent exactly is different from floats' (and possibly more useful).