Well, you want to be able to add floats to rationals. The results shouldn't be rational, for much the same reason as you don't want to convert floats to rationals directly. I figure the only choice that leaves is that the result be a float. That and float(rational) should be the only times that a rational gets turned into a float.
Are you suggestiong that float(rational) should be a string, with the number of degrees of precesion set by something like the Context type in Decimal?
Actually, I was misremembering how Decimal worked - it follows the rule you suggest:
float() + Decimal() fails with a TypeError float() + float(Decimal()) works fine
And I believe Decimal's __float__ operation is a 'best effort' kind of thing, so I have no problem with Rationals working the same way.
Cheers, Nick.
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Nick Coghlan | [EMAIL PROTECTED] | Brisbane, Australia
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http://boredomandlaziness.skystorm.net
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