for / while else doesn't make sense

[Gregory Ewing]

Pete Forman wrote:
> Gregory Ewing <greg.ewing at canterbury.ac.nz> writes:
>
>>Pete Forman wrote:
>>
>>>However I am coming from scientific measurements where 1.0 is the
>>>stored value for observations between 0.95 and 1.05.
>>
>>You only know that because you're keeping some extra information in
>>your head about what the 1.0 stored in your computer represents.
> 
> No, that is a real case. Floating point hardware can hold intermediate
> values in 80 bit registers

I don't see how that's relevant. My point is that if all
you gave me was a file containing the IEEE representation
of a floating point 1.0 and no other information, I would
have no way of telling that you intended it to represent
a value between 0.95 and 1.05, as opposed to 0.9995 to
1.0005 or any other range. That's true regardless of
whether 32 bits, 64 bits or 80 bits is being used.

-- 
Greg