Re: computing times and output display
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg66966] Re: computing times and output display
- From: David Bailey <dave at Remove_Thisdbailey.co.uk>
- Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2006 03:48:33 -0400 (EDT)
- References: <e5tqd6$cv2$1@smc.vnet.net>
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
Steven Shippee wrote: > Running Mathematica version 5.2 on Windows XP Professional with an older > Pentium III 833MHz processor and 512 GB of RAM. > > Anyone know why 8^8^8 (or 9^9^9) takes several minutes to "compute" and > display results, but in a new fresh kernel/environment 9^9^9. (decimal after > the last number 9) one gets an almost instantaneous response? Is this > merely the difference in preparing for the output of the computation to the > screen ... > > Thanks in advance, > > Steven Shippee > > 8^8^8 or 9^9^9 is an exact integer calculation, and has to be performed using software multiple precision integer operations. 9^9^9. is a real calculation (and therefore imprecise) and is done with hardware floating point operations. David Bailey http://www.dbaileyconsultancy.co.uk