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

From: John Phillips (phillips_at_[hidden])
Date: 2008-02-26 16:09:55

Johan Råde wrote:

> Don't you think a Bessel function is somehow more "mathematical" than the isnormal function?
> 
> --Johan
> 

   No, but that may be a function of my personal view of mathemmatics. 
isnormal is a set classification function, and as such has a long and 
important history in mathematics. It isn't what most non-mathematicians 
think of when they consider mathematical functions, but many very 
important mathematical advances that happened before the advent of 
computers were based around such classification functions. isnormal in 
specific isn't a classification rule that I expect would have been used 
before digital computers, but the underlying model of functions that 
trace what is and is not included in a set is an old one in mathematics.

                        John