But whatever the theoretical precision of a float, I think the thing that makes Pd floats less precise than Max floats lies in the use of the %g format specifier to print them out, which can result in a lower precision than the float is capable of. This makes it possible to use maximum precision float calculations inside of objects but not between them. (and of course nothing stops an object using doubles internally.)
Martin
On 2012-01-13 08:11, Mathieu Bouchard wrote:
Le 2012-01-13 à 08:05:00, Mathieu Bouchard a écrit :
Neither binary nor decimal representation is more precise than the other, it's just that their precision never matches exactly. 20 bits is slightly less than 6 decimals, whereas 16 decimals is slightly more than 53 bits. Thus you can only preserve precision by using slightly too many digits, otherwise you'll have too few.
erratum : i meant that 20 bits is slightly more than 6 decimals.
20 bits = 6.0205... decimals 24 bits = 7.2247... decimals 53 bits = 15.9545... decimals
(And by «decimal» here, I mean all significant digits, not the other meaning of the word)
| Mathieu BOUCHARD ----- téléphone : +1.514.383.3801 ----- Montréal, QC
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