Re: [pure-lang-users] Numeric Arguments

[Albert G. <Dr....@t-...>]

John Cowan wrote:
> The problem is that floating-point underflow gives 0 silently, so a result
> can become real when mathematically it should not.

That's true, but the same kind of argument could also be used to argue 
that 3.0 should not be considered "integer" either.

> Is polar representation a major consideration in Pure?

Yes. Both notations are equally important and can be used 
interchangeably. We discussed this here, and it was considered a very 
useful feature.

> I don't know any language supporting complex numbers where it is.

Well, many advanced calculators all have it, if that counts. ;-) That's 
no accident; the polar representation is much more convenient when doing 
signal processing stuff and in general everything that involves lots of 
products and powers of complex numbers.

Albert

-- 
Dr. Albert Gr"af
Dept. of Music-Informatics, University of Mainz, Germany
Email:  Dr....@t-..., ag...@mu...
WWW:    http://www.musikinformatik.uni-mainz.de/ag