[Python-ideas] Python Numbers as Human Concept Decimal System

[Guido van Rossum]

Do you actually have a degree in math, or do you just remember your high
school algebra? The numbers in math usually are quite strictly typed: whole
theories only apply to integers or even positive integers, other things to
all reals but not to complex numbers. (And what about quaternions? Or
various infinities? :-)


On Wed, Mar 5, 2014 at 8:05 PM, Mark H. Harris <harrismh777 at gmail.com>wrote:

>
>
> On Wednesday, March 5, 2014 9:47:24 PM UTC-6, Guido van Rossum wrote:
>>
>> I wonder if we need yet another list, python-speculative-ideas? Or
>> python-waxing-philosophically?
>>
>
> hi Guido,  no probably not.  I just got to thinking again about *number *again
> as
> I was thinking about decimal floating point as default. Its the
> mathematician in me; go
> for the general case, and that would be a type-less unified *number *
> system.
>
> For the near case design issues the following realist ideas might be
> considered in order:
>
> 1) decimal literal like  1.23d
>
> 2) default decimal floating point with a binary type   1.23b
>
> 3) type-less unified *number  *yes, probably way out there into the future
>
>
> kind regards,
> marcus
>



-- 
--Guido van Rossum (python.org/~guido)
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