Re: [boost] Ann: Floating Point Utilities Review starts today

From: Jonathan Franklin (franklin.jonathan_at_[hidden])
Date: 2008-02-26 15:47:30

On Tue, Feb 26, 2008 at 1:32 PM, Johan Råde <rade_at_[hidden]> wrote:

> The binary representation of floating point numbers is computer science,
> not mathematics.
> Numerical analysis is an interdisciplinary field, involving both
> mathematics and computer science.

The field of numerical analysis predates the invention of modern computers
(and hence CS) by many centuries.  It's true that Numerical Analysis deals
w/ more than just binary representation of real numbers, but it *does* deal
w/ them.

Speaking from my experience, I know more Mathematicians who understand how
floating point numbers work than I do computer scientists who know, and I
probably know 10 computer scientists for each mathematician that I know.  I
am always dismayed by how many computer scientists don't really know
anything about floating point numbers, other than the obvious.  This may be
related to more Math departments requiring a numerical analysis class than
CS departments, but I don't really know.

Take that for whatever it's worth.  Your experience may be very different
from mine.

Jon