Algorithms to reveal properties of floating-point arithmetic

  • Authors:
  • Michael A. Malcolm

  • Affiliations:
  • Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA

  • Venue:
  • Communications of the ACM
  • Year:
  • 1972

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Abstract

Two algorithms are presented in the form of Fortran subroutines. Each subroutine computes the radix and number of digits of the floating-point numbers and whether rounding or chopping is done by the machine on which it is run. The methods are shown to work on any “reasonable” floating-point computer.