Rev math

[Dar Scott]

On Sunday, March 16, 2003, at 01:03 PM, Victor Eijkhout wrote:

> Actually, there are packages for infinite precision that rr could 
> simply link to (doesn't the Gnu Scientific Library have it?).

Do you mean math externals?  Building externals may be the best way to 
go.  I wouldn't remove scripted functions from the options yet, if one 
is experimenting with fancy arithmetic.  Or hybrids.

Do you mean a change in underlying Revolution arithmetic?  I think 
implementation is the least of the problems with such a change.

> My guess is that that would be easier than doubling hte precision. 
> Given that we are already using double precision, do chips have native 
> instructions for quad precision? It could be that that would be quite 
> hard to add.

My wild guess is that either hardware arithmetic or general hardware 
performance might make this attractive within five years.  By saying 
"wouldn't be surprised" I don't intend this to be a strong statement.  
I think it more likely than decimal point arithmetic, which I would 
rather see.

Dar Scott