3 ms·
> Do we really know this number or is it just a wild-assed guess? Does it matter? You have 23 bits of mantissa to fill one way or the other, and if you don't k
by bigbillheck 3y ago
> Do we really know this number or is it just a wild-assed guess?
Does it matter? You have 23 bits of mantissa to fill one way or the other, and if you don't know the lower, say, 12, one pattern of bits is as good as any other pattern.
- tobinfricke 3y agoThat would be fine if the number were accompanied by a confidence interval.
- diarrhea 3y agoPrecision beyond what can be justified by the uncertainty of the original input is wrong, not just as-good-as.
- bigbillheck 3y agoIn terms of actual numbers in the physical world, sure, but the usual kind of floating point numbers don't have a concept of precision, and you're getting all 23 bits whether you want them or not. Humans know the difference between "1.0" and "1.0000" but they're the same to the computer.
- rcxdude 3y agorounding, especially in decimal, isn't actually any better. If you want to specify precision, specify it explicitly.
- pessimizer 3y agoThe reason you get rid of those extra digits is because it will always be tempting to find meaning in them.
- tobinfricke 3y agoGreat answer!