"Strong typing vs. strong testing"

[Rui Maciel]

George Neuner wrote:

> That's true.  But it is a situation where the conversion to SI units
> loses precision and therefore probably shouldn't be done.

<snip/>

> I don't care to check it ... the fact that the SI unit involves 12
> decimal places whereas the imperial unit involves 3 tells me the
> conversion probably shouldn't be done in a program that wants
> accuracy.


Your comment is absurd for multiple reasons.   As we are focusing on the computational aspect of 
this issue then I will only say this:  If we are dealing with a computer representation of numbers 
then, as long as the numeric data type provides enough precision, it is perfectly irrelevant if a 
decimal representation of a certain number involves 12 or 3 decimal places.  The only precision 
issues which affect a calculation is the ones arising from a) the ability to exactly represent a 
certain number in a specific representation and b) the precision errors produced by arithmetic 
operations.


Rui Maciel