Minh’s Notes

Human-readable chicken scratch

Minh Nguyễn
January 24th, 2003
Computing
#381

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Sig-Figs

You may’ve learned significant figures in Chemistry class. But did you know that computer scientists have units for sig-figs? They’re called the uld and ulp

clearly doesn’t understand these concepts. In many cases, uld and ulp are the same. But a lot of times, computers can only increment (increase) a given variable by, say, fives, instead of ones, in which case, the ulp will be five times larger than the uld. Also, computers can calculate π to at least 1,000 places; however, MS Calculator will only display the constant up to 32 digits. In this case, the uld is larger than the ulp. I’ll try to clarify this later.


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  1. You may’ve learned significant figures in Chemistry class. But did you know that computer scientists have units for sig-figs?


Comments

  1. I don't get it. What's an uld?

     – President Fogg

  2. This is a test. Sorry, it’s not an open-notebook test. Now, clear your desktop of everything except this window and your favorite typing utensil. j/k.

  3. This is a test. Sorry, it’s not an open-notebook test. Now, clear your desktop of everything except this window and your favorite typing utensil. j/k.