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* [Caml-list] Float precision in OCaml
@ 2017-08-01 10:47 Viet Le
  2017-08-01 11:18 ` Nicolás Ojeda Bär
  2017-08-01 12:12 ` Daniel Bünzli
  0 siblings, 2 replies; 18+ messages in thread
From: Viet Le @ 2017-08-01 10:47 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: caml-list

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Hi all,

I'm writing a JSON parser in pure OCaml and have encountered an issue with
small float values:

10 zeros in between
# 1.00000000001e-312 ;;
- : float = 1.00000000001e-312

11 zeros in between
# 1.000000000001e-312 ;;
- : float = 1.00000000000341e-312

# 5e-324 ;;
- : float = 4.94065645841e-324


I haven't found precise limit, but as a rule of thumb (*not precise*), for
a positive float value to keep its precision, it *should* not be smaller
than 1.00000000001e-312. To use JSON as precise serializer, it would be
necessary to preserve accuracy.

I checked https://github.com/ocaml/Zarith and it supports only big int &
quotients, not floating point.

For values smaller than the limit above, should I just treat as 2 values:
(normalized: float, exponent: float), so we will have:

5e-324 -> (5, -324)

Comments and suggestions are appreciated. Thanks.

-- 
Kind regards,
Viet

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^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 18+ messages in thread

end of thread, other threads:[~2017-08-02  8:22 UTC | newest]

Thread overview: 18+ messages (download: mbox.gz / follow: Atom feed)
-- links below jump to the message on this page --
2017-08-01 10:47 [Caml-list] Float precision in OCaml Viet Le
2017-08-01 11:18 ` Nicolás Ojeda Bär
2017-08-01 11:25   ` Frédéric Bour
2017-08-01 11:45     ` Viet Le
2017-08-01 11:40   ` François Bobot
2017-08-01 11:42   ` Viet Le
2017-08-01 11:48     ` François Bobot
2017-08-01 12:12 ` Daniel Bünzli
2017-08-01 12:56   ` Viet Le
     [not found]   ` <etPan.59807b8a.db32dee.123@AirmailxGenerated.am>
2017-08-01 13:17     ` Daniel Bünzli
2017-08-01 13:57   ` Soegtrop, Michael
2017-08-01 14:07     ` Soegtrop, Michael
2017-08-01 15:48     ` Peter Thiemann
2017-08-01 17:12       ` Soegtrop, Michael
2017-08-02  7:41         ` Peter Thiemann
     [not found]   ` <etPan.5980c173.1234cb4.123@AirmailxGenerated.am>
2017-08-01 18:05     ` Daniel Bünzli
2017-08-02  5:46       ` Viet Le
2017-08-02  8:22       ` Soegtrop, Michael

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