-----Original Message----- From: boost-bounces@lists.boost.org [mailto:boost-bounces@lists.boost.org] On Behalf Of Steve Ward Sent: 03 March 2008 06:18 To: boost@lists.boost.org Cc: boost-users@lists.boost.org Subject: Re: [boost] [Boost-users] Ann: Floating Point Utilities Reviewstarts today I have just one quibble. I would substitute the word "mantissa" with "significand" in these files: boost/math/detail/fp_traits.hpp boost/math/fpclassify.hpp
See my rationale here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Significand#Use_of_.22mantissa.22
"However, this use of mantissa is discouraged by the IEEE floating-point standard committee and by some professionals such as William Kahan and Donald Knuth, because it conflicts with the pre-existing usage of mantissa for the fractional part of a logarithm (see also common logarithm)."
Additionally, this Wikipedia page < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_754-1985> referenced in the documentation <libs/math/doc/fpclassify.htm> never mentions "mantissa" -- only "significand".
I strongly support this 'quibble' - I think it is quite important to be consistent about this and 'significand' is clearly the 'trendy' work, even though many people understand mantissa. The link above should be included in the docs to say why the significand' name is used. The time to make this change is before this source gets into general use - that is - now! Paul --- Paul A Bristow Prizet Farmhouse, Kendal, Cumbria UK LA8 8AB +44 1539561830 & SMS, Mobile +44 7714 330204 & SMS pbristow@hetp.u-net.com