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> The default for programming should be arbitrary precision rational numbers. And all is well – until you learn about e and pi and realize, that your arbitrary
by adwn 9y ago
> The default for programming should be arbitrary precision rational numbers.
And all is well – until you learn about e and pi and realize, that your arbitrary precision rational numbers are no better than floating-point.
- kccqzy 9y agoI find that the typical developer’s typical work doesn’t require irrational numbers at all. Of courses those specifically doing numeric computing would be best served with traditional floating point, but I truly think most don’t. Maybe my experience is biased then.
- adwn 9y agoThe typical developer's typical work mostly requires integers, and when they need reals, 64-bit floats are nearly always sufficient. I would even say that arbitrary-size integers are needed more often than true rationals.