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Re: SetPrecision[]

• To: mathgroup at yoda.ncsa.uiuc.edu
• Subject: Re: SetPrecision[]
• From: uunet!renoir.Berkeley.EDU!fateman (Richard Fateman)
• Date: Tue, 3 Apr 90 07:59:17 -0700

Actually, SetPrecision[1.2,30] --> 1.2000000 <30 digits> IS possible,
and here's how.  Treat 1.2 as an input form, like  RealNumber[1,2].
Don't convert it to machine precision until you do arithmetic on
it.

This is a total hack, and only serves to maintain the mistaken illusion
that Mathematica does decimal arithmetic, and perpetuates the myth that
there is something inherently correct about decimal input or output
.... but, for example, I could easily put the hack above into my own
Mathematica-like parser written in Common Lisp.
 -- Richard Fateman