Java 7 - Sum

[Joel Cochran]

I'm working on Sum and running into a wierd problem... I don't want to compromise what anyone else is working on, so no code, but here are the results of the program...
C:\JavaSource\CattleDrive>java Sum
0.0
0.1
0.2
0.30000000000000004
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.7999999999999999
0.8999999999999999
0.9999999999999999 is not equal to 100
Can someone who's been there point me in the right direction? I've read what I could find on double and floating point math, but sheesh it shouldn't be doing this!
Thanks!
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Joel Cochran

[Stuart Goss]

Seems like I've got something to look forward to!
Hope you make it soon!
Stuart

[Jane Griscti]

Hi Joel,
The point of the exercise is to high-light the problem you're seeing and understand why it happens
Except your number should be higher 99.9999999999999999 vs
0.9999999999999999. Are you adding 0.1 a thousand times?
Jane

[Joel Cochran]

Arrrggghhhh.... I was afraid that would be the answer...
I'm only doing 10 until figure this out. I originally wrote it for 1000 and then whittled it down to here so I could work on this bug.
Thanks... don't I even get a hint where to look?
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Joel Cochran

[bill bozeman]

I don't think there is anything to look up. What you are seeing is correct. The assignment doesn't ask you to make it equal or make it not equal, it just asks you to print out what it is and be able to explain why.
Remember with floats and doubles, you lose precision.
Bill

[Joel Cochran]

Well, I guess I'm half way there then... I can print it out no problem, just can't explain why it is thus... Back to the books...
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Joel Cochran

[Michael Pearson]

Joel,
I took a very boring CS course several years ago titled "Numerical Methods". The class dealt with algorithms that are used to minimize error in computer calculations. This was a huge problem in the good old days and can still be if you aren�t careful with your type casting and equations.
You'll be able to solve this with a little research. I know I don't remember the specifics, but I've got time to read before I get to Java-7.
Mike

[Marilyn de Queiroz]

If you have Just Java 2 (the textbook), look at pages 129 and 130.

[Joel Cochran]

Unfortunately, I do not. I have Sam'sTeach Yourself Java 1.1 in 21 Days, Java 2 Weekend Crash Course, Java in a Nutshell, Wrox (Horton's) Beginning Java 2, Wrox Proffessional Java Server Programming, J2EE Edition, and Sun's Core Servlets and JavaServer Pages. I was kind of hoping I wouldn't have to buy another book...
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Joel Cochran
[This message has been edited by Joel Cochran (edited April 03, 2001).]