On Wed, 29 May 2013 20:23:00 -0400, Dave Angel wrote: > Even in a pure decimal system of (say) > 40 digits, I could type in a 42 digit number and it would get quantized. > So just because two 42 digit numbers are different doesn't imply that > the 40 digit internal format would be.
Correct, and we can demonstrate it using Python: py> from decimal import * py> getcontext().prec = 3 py> a = +Decimal('1.0000') py> b = +Decimal('1.0009') py> a == b True (By default, the Decimal constructor does not honour the current precision. To force it to do so, use the unary + operator.) -- Steven -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list