Re: Scientific notation to text
Re: Scientific notation to text
- Subject: Re: Scientific notation to text
- From: Paul Berkowitz <email@hidden>
- Date: Mon, 14 May 2001 00:14:30 -0700
On 5/13/01 11:55 PM, "Michelle Steiner" <email@hidden> wrote:
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On 5/13/01 10:21 PM, Paul Berkowitz <email@hidden> wrote:
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> Now try just compiling (don't run it yet):
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>
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> 1.94055698299304
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>
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> It compiles to:
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>
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> 1.940556982993
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>
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> so it looks as if those final '04' digits put it out of the reach of
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> AppleScript reals. That's what's happening when your typing is evaluated
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> before the 'as text' coercion even takes place. I know that the final two
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> digits don't disappear when you tack on 'E-4' and then compile or run the
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> resulting number, but I bet that they would get ignored in a calculation.
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>
Enter this into the script editor.
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1.94055698299304 = 1.940556982993
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Compile it; it now displays this:
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1.940556982993 = 1.940556982993
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Run it.
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--> false
>
We've been here before, a few months ago. It has to do with the binary
representation of some decimal numbers as not exact. So the above "equation"
will represent two different binaries which do not equal each other but
which both round to the same decimal real. I don't know why, in that case,
the longer number is truncated in decimal version - I'd guess because there
are too many significant places to represent accurately in binary.
--
Paul Berkowitz