on Wed Aug 31 2011, "Simonson, Lucanus J" <lucanus.j.simonson-AT-intel.com> wrote:
Please don't call it real. An mp float type is not at all a real number any more than a regular float type is a real number. With extended precision floating type you cannot represent irrationals and you cannot represent most rationals exactly either. What it is is a floating point type with a variable, but still finite number of bits. All computers have finite sized memory and are required to run programs in a finite ammount of time. That is why these numerical types are properly called multiple precision and not infinte precision. I'd like to see the name be mp_float. I prefer:
mp_float mp_int mp_rational
+1 -- Dave Abrahams BoostPro Computing http://www.boostpro.com