Re: Floating Point Computation

[mcvax!nplmg1a.uucp!jrp@seismo.CSS.GOV]

    Thanks for the reference.  I'm not sure what point you are trying to
    make, however.  Is there some specific recommendation lurking in here?

I don't think that I have anything very profound to say, save don't take
*anything* for granted when it comes  to floating point.  The  reference
gives a  number of  simple axioms  which *should*  be satisfied  by  any
reasonable processor, but  are surprisingly often  not satisfied in  all
cases.  In any  case, these axioms should  permit you to determine  what
you can  resonably do  with floating-point  in what  might be  called  a
"sane" environment.

By  the  way,  there  are  a  number  of  packages  for  assessing   the
floating-point performance of  a given  processor (e.g.   from NAG,  the
Numerical Algorithms Group in Oxford).

And when it comes to "double-length" arithmetic...

    Or are you just saying that everything about floating-point is so
    screwed up that we shouldn't waste time arguning about how to make
    it better?

I  would  not  go  that  far,  but  when  it  comes  to  "double-length"
arithmetic...

John Pavel