>From the virtual desk of Lowell Tackett
--- On Tue, 4/20/10, Luke Paireepinart <rabidpoob...@gmail.com> wrote: > From: Luke Paireepinart <rabidpoob...@gmail.com> > Subject: Re: [Tutor] the binary math "wall" > To: "Lowell Tackett" <lowelltack...@yahoo.com> > Cc: "tutor" <Tutor@python.org> > Date: Tuesday, April 20, 2010, 1:20 PM > On Tue, Apr 20, 2010 at 11:58 AM, > Lowell Tackett > <lowelltack...@yahoo.com> > wrote: > > I'm running headlong into the dilemma of binary math > representation, with game-ending consequences, e.g.: > > > >>>> 0.15 > > 0.14999999999999999 > > > > Yes, floats are slightly inaccurate. > > But I think your problem is that your math is wrong. > You are assuming... > If your equations cannot handle this, then coerce the value > to 1. > if .9999999 < i < 1.00001: > i = 1 > > And before you say "but that is just a hack", no, that is > the nature... > But you really just need to adapt... > > May I suggest another approach though? > > Consider this: > >>> a = 18.15 > >>> a > 18.149999999999999 > >>> a = '18.15' > >>> degree, min = map(int, a.split('.')) > >>> degree > 18 > >>> min > 15 > > Supposing you get your input as a string. > Basically the second you let your value end up stored as a > float, > there's no turning back... > > Eventually you will develop a distrust for floats... > > Hope that helps, > -Luke > I was gonna go out jogging - and in a coupla hours check to see if anyone had tried to take this "on"; going out the door I decided to take a quick look. Ahem... These responses just "blow me away" on a couple of levels. I'm choosing "Luke"'s offering as representative. Within <minutes> some great folks had read, parsed, and re-structured my query. My narrow focus yells out my inexperience...I was trying as hard as I could, with limited tools, to solve the issue. That's fine. But...the breadth and depth of the responses represent nothing short of a paradigm shift in my window into this world of "hacking". Ya'll have insights of a scale unimagined in the confines of my "thinking box". (Now, I gotta go out and jog just to clear my head!) Then come back...and pull the blinds closed...and absorb; and come up for air in maybe a week or so. And only then, be able to offer my thanks with an objective sense of how much I've been helped today...Wow! _______________________________________________ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org To unsubscribe or change subscription options: http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor