Re: Is infinity equal to infinity?

Ray Dillinger <bear@sonic.net>
11 Jul 1998 23:42:02 -0400

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[6 later articles]
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From: Ray Dillinger <bear@sonic.net>
Newsgroups: sci.math.num-analysis,comp.lang.c,sci.math,comp.compilers
Date: 11 Jul 1998 23:42:02 -0400
Organization: Cognitive Dissidents
Distribution: inet
References: 98-07-058
Keywords: arithmetic, design, comment

Erik Runeson wrote:


> Inf == Inf ?


> Inf - Inf = NaN


> Any comparison with a NaN (Not a number) shall, according to the IEEE
> 754 be concidered unordered and return false.


The need to have return values for comparisons like inf=inf is perhaps
the best argument I've ever seen for NaB (Not a Boolean) as a
necessary part of a programming language.
[The IEEE floating point standard does say that some comparisons return
"unordered" as well as true or false. -John]
--


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