In <f253109c-1da7-45f6-82e4-77fdeda64...@k39g2000yqe.googlegroups.com> Mark Dickinson <dicki...@gmail.com> writes:
>The smallest positive subnormal value >is usually 2**-1074. If you want something that would still work >if Python ever switched to using IEEE 754 binary128 format (or some >other IEEE 754 format), then >sys.float_info.min * 2**(1-sys.float_info.mant_dig) Hmmm. This close-to-the-metal IEEE stuff make a "HERE BE DRAGONS!" alarms go off in my head... (What's up with that correction by 1 to sys.float_info.mant_dig? Or, probably equivalently, why would sys.float_info.min_exp (-1021) be off by 1 relative to log2 of sys.float_info.min (-1022)?) I suppose that 2**(sys.float_info.min_exp - sys.float_info.mant_dig) would also work? I must confess, this stuff is way beyond me... I'm glad that sys.float_info is available... kynn -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
