Paul Gilmartin's point has merit; but, as usual, the details matter. Mike Cowlishaw's design of the [now IEEE-standard] z/Architecture decimal floating-point (DFP) format
1) distinguishes -0.0e+000 from +0.0e+000, and 2) ensures that they compare equal architecturally. The distinction is useful in coding and studying many limiting/convergence processes for which the direction from which zero is approached is important. John Gilmore, Ashland, MA 01721 - USA ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
