Python, mysql, floating point values question

[beliavsky at aol.com]

Dennis Lee Bieber wrote:

> 	Considering how often this has come up, I've sort of lost faith
> in CS programs at colleges. Now, this might be an unfair statement as I
> don't know if any of those bringing up the question ever had college CS
> courses... But the fluff of floating point data was something I vaguely
> recall had been covered in my second FORTRAN class [1976-77; I ran
> FORTRAN, Advanced FORTRAN, and Assembly in my first year] (since COBOL
> used packed decimal, it wasn't a candidate for the behavior -- not
> problem, as it is not erroneous behavior, just something one needs to
> learn about).
>
> 	A book that may be out of print "Real Numbers Made Real" (hope I
> recalled the name) covers some of this.

Almost -- the book is "Real Computing Made Real: Preventing Errors in
Scientific and Engineering Calculations", by Forman S. Acton