On Oct 3, 2011, at 4:41 AM, tlaro...@polynum.com wrote: >> > But to come back to programming, when calculus is the crux, the more > common/known even new! programming languages are not great tools, and > "portability" i.e. proved accuracy of the implementation for a wide > range of hardware/software is fuzzy. And it's amazing to see how one can > rapidly face errors even with very basic computations. And even with > integer arithmetic, not much help is guaranteed by languages.
Integer & rational arithmetic is guaranteed in Scheme and some other languages. In an R5RS compliant Scheme implementation you have for example (/ 5 7) => 5/7. (If only people get over their irrational fear of prefix syntax they would discover a great little language in Scheme.) But most prog. languages do not specify minimal required accuracy on standard floating pt. functions. May be because most language hackers are not numerical analysts!
