Re: [Re: RPGILE V4.3 Gotcha]

[Jim Langston <jlangston@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Okay, let me just say it this way then, it is not safe to do ANY type
of math on any number that contains a fraction.

If I have to worry about loosing accuracy after ONE significant digit,
something is definitely wrong with the math engine.

Regards,

Jim Langston

boldt@ca.ibm.com wrote:

> someone wrote:
> >Well, dang, that's no good at all!  This being the case you can't do any
> >type of floating point math with anything resembling any accuracy.
> >
> >Other languages use a fixed size for a floating point value.  Why not
> >just bump the size to 30,20 (or however your largest floating point
> >value is) and forget about it?  Or are you saying your Mantissa can
> >only store 30 significant digits?
> >
> >This now tells me to NEVER, NEVER, NEVER do any type of
> >floating point math in RPG.
>
> Exsqueeze me?!?  Where in Carl's sample program did he use floating
> point numeric variables?  He was using decimal numeric variables
> exclusively.
>
> BTW, you don't really expect 30 digits of precision from floating
> point variables, do you?  I agree with you - until you understand
> the difference between the floating point and decimal numeric types,
> please don't use floating point.  (Study Chapter 10 of the ILE RPG
> Reference manual.)
>
> Cheers!  Hans
>
> Hans Boldt, ILE RPG Development, IBM Toronto Lab, boldt@ca.ibm.com
>
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