Re: How do I eliminate premultipliers of "1." ?
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg31169] Re: How do I eliminate premultipliers of "1." ?
- From: "David W. Cantrell" <DWCantrell at sigmaxi.org>
- Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2001 01:18:44 -0400 (EDT)
- References: <9q8oeb$co$1@smc.vnet.net> <9qbi0g$2d4$1@smc.vnet.net>
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
"Alan Mason" <swt at austin.rr.com> wrote: > .. I agree with you, though. Mathematica 4.1 even claims > that 1.0 == 1 is True. > > I consider this an outright error. 1.0 means a floating-point > approximation to 1, whereas 1 is exactly 1 It's not an error. Of course, a Real is a different type of number from an Integer. But to evaluate the logical expression in a reasonable fashion, the Integer must first be converted to Real. You might note that, using default settings, 0.33333333333333 == 1/3 is True, while 0.3333333333333 == 1/3 is False. This is as it should be. > The correct way to treat 1.0/1.0 is somewhat ambiguous. > Does 1.0 stand for the same approximation at each > appearance? It stands for the same Real at each appearance. > If so, the ratio should be 1; otherwise, it should be 1.0. It should be 1.0 because, in general, Real/Real must give Real. David -- -------------------- http://NewsReader.Com/ -------------------- Usenet Newsgroup Service