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

From: Jonathan Franklin (franklin.jonathan_at_[hidden])
Date: 2008-02-26 16:01:00

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.

Note that Indian mathematicians were using floating point numbers in the
14th century:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerala_School

Binary representations would of course not be nearly as interesting until
the advent of computers... but number systems (including binary) are a part
of Mathematics.

Some might even argue that (theoretical) Computer Science is itself a branch
(or at least red-headed step-child) of Mathematics.
;-)

Jon