JR = John Randall, DB = me, RM = Raul Miller JR> for example. no-one knows how many guard digits JR> are needed to calculate x^y over the full range JR> of floating-point numbers.
DB> If we know precisely how many digits req'd for DB> arbitary-length int ^ , why is it not so DB> for flop ^ ? RM> But we do know how many digits are required. My question was poorly phrased, but it was in response to, and in the context of, John's guard digit conundrum. It referred not to the number of digits req'd to represent the result, which is fixed in advance (the topic of this thread), but the number of digits required to calcuate that fixed number of result digits. As for: RM> infinite digits are required. Required for what application? If you truly "require" infinite digits, you're screwed. Go home. Creation itself is discrete. -Dan ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
