Hasty Briefsbeta

Myths About Floating-Point Numbers (2021)

15 days ago
  • #programming
  • #computer-science
  • #floating-point
  • Floating-point numbers are useful but can be tricky to use correctly.
  • Programmers can understand floating-point numbers at different levels: beginner, intermediate, and advanced.
  • Floating-point numbers are exact within their limited range and precision.
  • Floating-point operations are deterministic, not random.
  • NaN and INF are valid special cases in floating-point representation and can be useful.
  • Common beliefs about floating-point numbers are simplifications that help avoid errors but don't tell the full story.