A quick precision test

[pito]

(06-07-2014 12:20 PM)Paul Dale Wrote:  ..
Ahh, the problem seems to be the decimal point limiting the number of significant digits. Adding zeros would increase the number of digits used and hence the correct result.

Expressing the decimal number as a rational yields the result we're looking for:

We make Mr. Wolfram unhappy when not utilizing his recommendations..

We have to explicitly request an N digits precision with any number/constant and calculus (in Mathematica as well in Alfa), otherwise "machine precision" will be used instead.

So for example we want calculate with 666 digits precision:

Code:

 2.989 * sin ( 22.12 / 7.1 - 0.0023 )

It has to be entered into Alfa as:

Code:

 2.989`666 * sin ( 22.12`666 / 7.1`666 - 0.0023`666 )

In Mathematica (works in Alfa too]:

Code:

 N[2.989`666 * Sin ( 22.12`666 / 7.1`666 - 0.0023`666), 666 ]