[Python-Dev] Re: PEP239 (Rational Numbers) Reference Implementation and new issues

[Christian Tismer]

Raymond Hettinger wrote:
> From: "Christian Tismer" <tismer@tismer.com>
> 
>>>Greg> The problem as I see it is not the magnitude of the number, but
>>>Greg> that the number of significant bits grows without bound, if you
>>>Greg> never throw any of them away.
>>>
>>>So I'm suggesting that maybe it won't get bad as quickly if
>>>you keep only the significant bits :-)
>>
>>Yes. And this is what a rounding to float would do for you.
> 
> 
> That is unless you wanted more precision than comes with a float.
> Normalization to some arbitrary maximum denominator magnitude
> would be a more general purpose solution.

Sure, this is right.
So rationals are seriously considered? Would be great.

ciao - chris

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