Torture tests: what do they mean?

[jebem]

(05-16-2014 09:03 AM)HP67 Wrote:  All the Saturn models use double-precision arithmetic by modern standards (64 bits).

Personally I don't believe more digits are the answer. Heuristics that detect and handle edge cases properly and better algebra for approximate calculations would be more helpful than more digits.

Do you really want a calculator with a 64 or 128 digit display? I don't think you can win this war of precision. At some point, accuracy becomes more important than precision.

That might be true, however it do not explain why other calculators like Casio, Texas, the WP-34S, and even some HP models like the 300S+ can handle those simple arithmetic problems by giving the correct mathematical answer. Please check Dieter explanation, it makes all the sense to me.
For me it is not about the number of digits in the display, it is about the number of internal digits used in approximate calculations.