Re: SIGNIFICANT FIGURES!!!


[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]

Re: SIGNIFICANT FIGURES!!!



"It isn't perfect."  I'll say.  The addition and subtraction works okay,
but the multiplication and division really blows.  For instance:
0.125 * 0.135  should be .0169, the program gives  .01688
0.987 * .0321  should be .317,  the program gives .3168
10.0 * 1.5 should be 15, the program gives 15 then errors, however,
I wanted to type in 10 meaning one significant figure not three, there is
no way to do that with your program.
Okay, you do admit that it only works some of the time, and that's true,
but I would hate to see science students not studying the rules of
significant figures because they think they can just use your program.
Call me a purist, but for all this effort I still think it's faster just to
learn the rules and do the sig fig determination by hand.  It's not that
tough, you can still use a calculator to do the actual math, after all!
Still, it was a valiant effort, and I congratulate you for making a
sig fig program that works even half the time.

>I have created a significant figures program for the 86 that does
>+,-,*,/,logs, and roots. It isn't perfect, but it works most of the time.
>                                                -Matt