Floating Point Expectations

[brnstnd at stealth.acf.nyu.edu]

In article <13000 at smoke.BRL.MIL> gwyn at smoke.BRL.MIL (Doug Gwyn) writes:
> Rather than attempting to model exact behavior of floating-point systems,
> I recommend devising algorithms that are robust in the face of
> considerable cruft from the floating-point unit.

This doesn't remove from FPU makers the responsibility to make chips
satisfying reasonably simple rules. You really can get a lot better
performance out of numerical algorithms when, e.g., you're working under
Knuth's model of floating-point computation. ANSI floating-point is an
excellent start, and it's worth the effort for strict compliance.

Anyway, this discussion belongs in sci.math or alt.chips.poor-engrg.
Followups to the former.

---Dan