What exactly is "exact" (was Clean Singleton Docstrings)
Marko Rauhamaa
marko at pacujo.net
Mon Jul 18 02:21:30 EDT 2016
Chris Angelico <rosuav at gmail.com>:
> Ah. Okay. So in theory, you could have exact float literals and
> inexact integer literals, if you tag them in some way:
>
> 300 ; Exactly 300
> 300! ; Inexact - roughly 300
> 3.0 ; Exactly three
> 3.0! ; Roughly three and zero tenths
In Scheme:
#e300
#i300
#e3.0
#i3.0
In principle, a Scheme implementation could have exact algebraic numbers
spiked with exact constants like e and π. In practice, exact numbers are
integers and rationals, while inexact numbers are floats and complex
numbers. It is a matter of opinion whether the conceptual abstraction is
worth the confusion.
Marko
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