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Re: About N in Mathematica 4

• To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
• Subject: [mg25420] Re: About N in Mathematica 4
• From: Murray Eisenberg <murray at math.umass.edu>
• Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2000 01:07:26 -0400 (EDT)
• Organization: Mathematics & Statistics, Univ. of Mass./Amherst
• References: <8qhn06$j09@smc.vnet.net> <8qk9gb$nt5@smc.vnet.net>
• Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com

I don't think the documented definition of N really changed.  Rather,
with Mathematica 3.0, people were relying upon an undocumented "feature"
of the way the results of N were displayed.

"J. Leko" wrote:
> 
> Ahhh...
> 
> It sounds like you're coming from an older version of Mathematica. I too
> had this problem when I switched to 4.0. It appears that the definition of
> the N function has changed since then. What you now need to use is the
> NumberForm function (section 2.8.7). It seems to operate in a fashion
> similar to the old N.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> J. Leko
> 
> Please reply to leko*j at cspar.uah.edu and remove the *
> 
> In article <8qhn06$j09 at smc.vnet.net>, "Sistrall" <silvano.stralla at tin.it> wrote:
> 
> > Hi!
> >
> > I've a question about the function N in Mathematica 4. I haven't found
> > information about this problem.
> >
> > The question is: why if I use N[Pi,30] I'll have a number of 30 decimal
> > digits, but with N[Pi,10] or N[Pi,3] I'll get a number of 6 digits?
> >
> > The right number of digits is given only if I use a precision bigger than
> > the precision of the machine. But if I want a number of 3 decimal digits?
> >
> > Thanks.

-- 
Murray Eisenberg                     murray at math.umass.edu
Mathematics & Statistics Dept.       phone 413 549-1020 (H)
Univ. of Massachusetts                     413 545-2859 (W)
Amherst, MA 01003-4515