Ben Finney wrote: > Wildemar Wildenburger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > >> But what use is there for floats, then? When is it OK to use them? > > When one is willing to sacrifice decimal precision for speed of > calculation, and doesn't need the numbers to stay precise. E.g. when > performing millions of calculations on real-world (analogue) > measurements. > Traditionally, mainframe computers used BCD arithmetic to handle currency, and the Decimal module is probably the best way to proceed if your Python is recent enough to include it.
That isn't to say that currencies can't be handled using floating-point. The important thing then becomes to round after each calculation rather than allowing the errors to build up until they become significant enough to make a difference to the final result. regards Steve -- Steve Holden +1 571 484 6266 +1 800 494 3119 Holden Web LLC/Ltd http://www.holdenweb.com Skype: holdenweb http://del.icio.us/steve.holden --------------- Asciimercial ------------------ Get on the web: Blog, lens and tag the Internet Many services currently offer free registration ----------- Thank You for Reading ------------- -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
