3 ms·

Floats are probably the best approximation of irrational numbers near zero. Rational numbers don’t need to be approximated, unless you’re doing something like t

Floats are probably the best approximation of irrational numbers near zero. Rational numbers don’t need to be approximated, unless you’re doing something like tight SIMD loops where the hardware itself limits precision, or letting an end user dictate how much precision he wants to see at the moment. There are corners we don’t need to cut anymore, because a half century of Moore’s Law has already paid for better tools if only we would claim them.

constantcrying 3y ago
>Floats are probably the best approximation of irrational numbers near zero. Floats are generally better near zero, but better (although less useful) approximations exist. >Rational numbers don’t need to be approximated Nonsense. "rational" datatypes are far less useful than floats. Approximating rationals by floats is usually better. FYI rational datatypes can not support operations which result in irrational numbers, such as exp, sqrt. >where the hardware itself limits precision Hardware does not limit precision. It implements IEEE 754. > letting an end user dictate how much precision he wants to see at the moment. Those are arbirtrary precision numbers. >There are corners we don’t need to cut anymore, because a half century of Moore’s Law has already paid for better tools if only we would claim them. Total nonsense. Fast floats have never been more important than they are now.