R devel - Sep 2008 - Rounding error for high-precision numeric values (PR#13010)

Full_Name: David Hall (gringer)
Version: 2.7.2 (2008-08-25)
OS: Debian GNU/Linux (sid/lenny)
Submission from: (NULL) (130.195.86.38)


Following on from a conversation I had with someone on IRC about Java's
handling
of difficult floating point numbers and its comparison with R's handling, I
observed a couple of values that appeared to have incorrect rounding
(1.9400994884341946e25, 1.9400994884341945e25). R displays these values to 18
significant figures, but the last digit is incorrect (should be 5, displays 4).
This is probably within the realm of "quirky things that we just have to
live
with".

Here's how to reproduce the problem:

$ echo -e
"options(digits=22)\n1.9400994884341946e25\n1.9400994884341948e25" | R
\
--vanilla

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ISBN 3-900051-07-0

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> options(digits=22)
> 1.9400994884341946e25
[1] 1.940099488434194e+25
> 1.9400994884341948e25
[1] 1.940099488434195e+25
>