I disagree with much of the above sentiments. If you are using a number which might be complex and your intention is to drop the imaginary part if it is very small, then you can do so, by taking its real part.
The producer of the complex number with zero imaginary part could have dropped that imaginary part if it intended for it to be equal to a real. If the imaginary part is the integer 0, then there is probably no confusion, and the imaginary part might just as well be dropped. I think that associating the number of bits of precision with the number of decimal digits typed in, is a mistake, whether it is 1.000000000 or 0.000000000. There is a substantial difference between a real number and a complex number whose imaginary part is very small. -- To post to this group, send an email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sage-devel URL: http://www.sagemath.org
