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Life is kind of that way. For instance, I know the distance to my workplace more precisely than I know the distance to Alpha Centauri. But computations have to
by analog31 3y ago
Life is kind of that way. For instance, I know the distance to my workplace more precisely than I know the distance to Alpha Centauri. But computations have to account for numeric precision. The course I took in numerical programming (aka "numerical analysis" in 1985) included an entire unit on the foibles of floating point numbers.
- amelius 3y agoHow would you write a game engine where one user is on Earth, and the other is around Alpha Centauri? Assuming the entire thing has to be modeled as a single world.
- analog31 3y agoDepends on what kind of user experience you're trying to program. For instance, the post office has multiple levels of precision -- state, city, street, etc., and managed to deliver the mail prior to the computer age. On the other hand, limitations of conventional floating point are imaginable, in which case you choose a different kind of numbering system. As it stands right now the typically cited value for the distance to Alpha Centauri doesn't take the position of the earth relative to the sun into account. We live with this imprecision. And in the post office example, a conventional address would be problematic because a person might move during the 8 year round trip between the stars.