[Oberon] real math

[Chris Burrows]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: oberon at moravcik.info [mailto:oberon at moravcik.info]
> Sent: Monday, 10 November 2014 10:00 PM
> To: chris at cfbsoftware.com; ETH Oberon and related systems
> Subject: Re: [Oberon] real math
> 
> "...As a consequence, computations involving floating-point values
> are inexact because each operation may be subject to truncation."
> 
> Yes I know that, but why is it that my scientific hand calculator
> does the same operation correctly?
> 480 / 100 * 100 = 480 (integer!) This calculator has 10 digits.
> 
> Are calculators using other algorithms?
> 

Yes - the design requirements for calculators are different to those for
computers. For an example implementation see:
 
http://www.hpmuseum.org/techcpu.htm

Regards,
Chris

Chris Burrows
CFB Software
http://www.cfbsoftware.com