bs@faron.UUCP (Robert D. Silverman) (01/12/86)
dgh@sun.uucp writes: The following questions have been raised in a posting by S. Issakow. I am responding based on my experience on the IEEE P754 and P854 committees. IEEE arithmetic is specified in ANSI/IEEE Standard 754-1985. > double a, b, c; > [assignment to b and c] > c = a / b; > > 1) If `a' == 1.0 and `b' == 0.0 , should the divide-by-zero cause etc. etc. ad nauseum. While algorithms for doing floating point arithmetic may be of interest to mathematicians this above stuff has very little to do with mathematics. It involves computer issues only. Please keep this sort of thing out of net.math. By the way... are you sure you cross posted it to enough groups??? Bob Silverman
tim@fisher.UUCP (Tim Snyder) (01/20/86)
> etc. etc. ad nauseum. > > While algorithms for doing floating point arithmetic may be of interest > to mathematicians this above stuff has very little to do with mathematics. > It involves computer issues only. Please keep this sort of thing out of > net.math. By the way... are you sure you cross posted it to enough groups??? > > Bob Silverman Dear Bob Silverman, There are many of us who believe that questions and discussions about computers are mathematical. Furthermore, one can even consider discussions of numbers or other "mathematical" objects of any nature to be mathematical. Perhaps we need a "net.math.research" or "net.math.serious" or "net.math.advanced" for people like yourself who accept and only want to hear questions relating to "PURELY" mathematical things. As is true of this posting, your policing of net.math can be more extraneous than any talk of computers, etc., and has become extremely annoying to me (comments from others?). Please, in the future, let those who post decide what mathematics is. Surely you are aware that the mathematical world is a massive one, with a myriad of definitions for what composes it. Let me emphasize that I do not seek a "net.war" here, for I clearly understand the frustration you experience when finding the postings about which you complain. This is a common experience when dealing with any public forum. I ask that you realize that many of us read and enjoy these particular net.math postings. I enjoy your postings, too! Respectfully, Tim Snyder
dcm@drutx.UUCP (MengesDC) (01/23/86)
Here! Here! The n key is the intelligent persons way of not viewing things that may not be of interest to them but are to others. Larry CLer AT&T Information Systems Laboratories 303-538-1428 ihnp4!drux2!ljc