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From: Steve Graegert <graegerts@gmail.com>
To: linux-c-programming@vger.kernel.org
Subject: Re: Double values - what precision do I use for fprintf?
Date: Thu, 12 Jan 2006 19:51:08 +0100	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <6a00c8d50601121051n691ee179kef3298829025e973@mail.gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <200601121800.19678.samjnaa@gmail.com>

On 1/12/06, Shriramana Sharma <samjnaa@gmail.com> wrote:
> Please observe the following printf output of eighteen double variables:
>
> First I tried using "%20.15f" as the format string:
>
>  268.229220252114942    1.018511211250181
>  66.833038547989787   12.450505533056681
>  20.512170161382819    0.334923179252419
>  259.358845955701327    1.571934717666495
>  201.111247720862963    0.139476171219810
>  270.658029698352152   -0.612280599380678
>  105.175902698424665   -0.076345132989225
>  343.809699615507384   -0.219206370786681
>
> Then I used "%30.25f":
>
>  268.2297152740335377529845573    1.0185111507334088098986058
>  66.8390907719954157073516399   12.4504269834231084956854829
>  20.5123328842112115921736404    0.3349264346316725426966343
>  259.3596100022817267927166540    1.5719383906021777708161835
>  201.1113154335791932680876926    0.1394751696317115263745734
>  270.6577319741974747557833325   -0.6122834912138217511312632
>  105.1758654981413201312534511   -0.0763454696609412730712307
>  343.8095929658045974974811543   -0.2192182978826520134418843
>
> Ignoring the small differences in the two sets of data (longitude and speed of
> eight celestial bodies computer at two different instants) I wonder - if I
> keep increasing the number of decimal places where will it end?

Shriramana,

Double precision numbering format is standardized by IEEE 754 with an
8 byte encoding.  1 bit is used for the sign, 11 bits for the exponent
and the remaining 52 bits are used for the precision, which means
precision "ends" at %.52f.

	\Steve

--

Steve Graegert <graegerts@gmail.com>
Software Consultant {C/C++ && Java && .NET}
Office: +49 9131 7123988
Mobile: +49 1520 9289212

  parent reply	other threads:[~2006-01-12 18:51 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 11+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2006-01-12 12:30 Double values - what precision do I use for fprintf? Shriramana Sharma
2006-01-12 14:17 ` Patrick Leslie Polzer
2006-01-12 18:51 ` Steve Graegert [this message]
2006-01-12 21:22   ` Nate Jenkins
2006-01-12 22:00     ` Mihai Dontu
2006-01-13 23:47     ` Glynn Clements
2006-01-14  0:35       ` Nate Jenkins
2006-01-17  5:37         ` Glynn Clements
2006-01-12 21:57   ` Scott
2006-01-12 22:06     ` Scott
2006-01-13  5:25     ` Steve Graegert

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