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diffrence between ver 3.01 and 4.1 regarding N[]?

• To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
• Subject: [mg39177] diffrence between ver 3.01 and 4.1 regarding N[]?
• From: peter weijnitz <pewei at algonet.se>
• Date: Sun, 2 Feb 2003 01:13:35 -0500 (EST)
• Organization: Telenordia/Algonet
• Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com

I tried some of my Mathematica3.01 programs on a computer with
Mathematica4.1,
 there where some differences that I could not explain.

 Regarding N[]: consider for example:
with version 4.1 I got:

N[Sqrt[2.],16]->1.4142
and
N[Sqrt[2.],17]->1.4142135623730950

and in version 3.01:

N[Sqrt[2.],16]->1.414213562373095
and
N[Sqrt[2.],17]->1.4142135623730950

Using SetPrecision[Sqrt[2.],16] I could make Mathematica4.1 give me 16
digits precision.
Ideas?

Peter W