| -----Original Message----- | From: boost-bounces@lists.boost.org | [mailto:boost-bounces@lists.boost.org] On Behalf Of Christoph Ludwig | Sent: 07 May 2005 10:27 | To: boost@lists.boost.org | Subject: Re: [boost] Math constants - updated. | | In the meantime, I had a look into the documentation. In | rationale.html#which%20constants you list the constants | provided. Unfortunately, this list is not current anymore. E.g., | double_constants.hpp defines twoPowThreeDivTwo which is not | mentioned in | rationale.html. cubeRootFour is called two_pow_two_thirds in the | documentation. Sorry I have not updated this much after the discussion during review. I'll do some tidying up - thanks for noting this. Briefly, there was no consensus on naming scheme, so I have left it as something simple for the time being. I feel the values are rather more important than the names. | > This is way outside my knowledge zone - and I was unclear | if and how many to | > include. | > | > Do these have any practical use? Or are they only for Pure | Mathematicians? | | I am not sure either. I have no use for the Riemann Zeta | function right now, | but it has a habit of popping up in areas where you did not | expect it. So others might very well have use for these constants. Well I can easily add them provided I can find accurate reference values. | Regarding the question of how many constants to include: Can | your source code | easily be modified to generate other constants as well? Would | it make sense to | distribute it as well so users can easily generate other constants | (say, sqrt(e), Riemann Zeta(n) for n > 3 etc.) if they need them? No, not easily. I have a trivial C++ program which uses Victor Shoup's NTL library, (freely available) to calculate and write the files. I could post the MS .lib file and the source, but I think it would be easier for people to just ask me to generate a new set of constants files (or a single file if a fancier MAcro-ized scheme is felt more useful. For example, sqrt(e) sounds like a useful addition and I will add it. Paul Paul A Bristow Prizet Farmhouse, Kendal, Cumbria UK LA8 8AB +44 1539 561830 +44 7714 330204 mailto: pbristow@hetp.u-net.com