Re: Exponents and notation
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg29896] Re: Exponents and notation
- From: Jens-Peer Kuska <kuska at informatik.uni-leipzig.de>
- Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 02:08:41 -0400 (EDT)
- Organization: Universitaet Leipzig
- References: <200107160428.AAA13406@smc.vnet.net> <9j0h49$fim$1@smc.vnet.net>
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
Hi, there is a good reason. Every high precision arithmetic must store the number of the digits somewhere (in a base you like). Typical the digit number is not a high precision number itself. The overflow comes from the fact that for 2^3^4^5 Mathematica needs more than the number of allowed digits. May be, that a 64-Bit Mathematica will help (for Sun's). BTW the HP is wrong because In[]:= x = 2.^3^4; xx = x*x*x*x*x Out[]= 8.263199609878108*^121 but we can get an other result with In[]:=x^5 Out[]=8.263199609878108*^121 *and* it is a *bug* that none of the results above generate an Overflow[] (as it should) but 2.^3^4^5 does. Only the Overflow[] result is correct. Regards Jens > > Hmm, this is the first I've seen the 'General::"ovfl": "Overflow occurred in > computation."' message. If I try a different calculation, say 8^8^8, I > don't get an overflow, but instead Mathematica just happily tries to find > the results (but I'm not holding my breath). > > > Is the HP wrong ? > > > > > > Well it would seem to be grouping the operators differently, but there may > be a good reason for this? > > > L.DERUYCK > > mailto:dr01202 at pophost.mediring.be > > > > Michael
- References:
- Exponents and notation
- From: "Ludwig Deruyck" <dr01202@pophost.mediring.be>
- Exponents and notation