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There are various technical considerations that should be borne in
mind when using a computer to perform mathematical
calculations. Most of the following has been gleaned from AppleÕs
Inside Macintosh series of books, available via AppleÕs web site or
in print form from Addison-Wesley.
Apple Macintosh computers that use the PowerPC chip (601, 603,
603e, 604, 604e and 750 [G3] microprocessors) use PowerPC
Numerics as a floating point environment for mathematical
computation. Earlier Apple computers that use a 68k chip
(68000, 68020, 68030, 68040 and LC68040 microprocessors)
use the earlier SANE (Standard Apple Numerics Environment) for
mathematical computation. There are differences between the
two numerics systems.
Any computer will also have certain numerical limitations when it
comes to mathematical computation, which is a result of the way
computers use binary to represent and handle numbers and
computations.
PowerPC Numerics is a floating-point environment that complies
with IEEE Standard 754. There are two IEEE standards for
floating-point arithmetic: IEEE Standard 754 for binary floating-
point arithmetic and IEEE Standard 854 for radix-independent
floating-point arithmetic.
The IEEE standards ensure that computers represent real
numbers as accurately as possible and that computers perform
arithmetic on real numbers as accurately as possible. Although
there are infinitely many real numbers, a computer can represent
only a finite number of them. Computers represent real numbers
Technical Considerations
iMalc Manual
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Technical Considerations
How computers handle maths