Decimal arithmetic

Decimal arithmetic - Demonstration

The short demonstration program linked from this page shows the results achieved using decimal arithmetic as compared to binary floating point arithmetic.

The program simply starts with the number nine (9), and repeatedly divides it by ten (10), and should display the following result:

    0.9        0.9
    0.09       0.089999996
    0.009      0.0090
    0.0009     9.0E-4
    0.00009    9.0E-5
    0.000009   9.0E-6
    9E-7       9.0000003E-7
    9E-8       9.0E-8
    9E-9       9.0E-9
    9E-10      8.9999996E-10

where the left-hand column is the results given using the new BigDecimal class, and the right-hand column is the results obtained using the binary float datatype.

You can use the program for testing your installation of the decimal package; the program is available in both Java and NetRexx:

Java

Here's the source for the program. View it, and save it as decdemo.java in a convenient directory.
If you haven't already done so, download and install the decimal.jar file.
Compile the program using the command
javac decdemo.java

Run the program using the command
java decdemo
This should display the results shown above.

NetRexx

Here's the source for the program. View it, and save it as decdemo.nrx in a convenient directory.
If you haven't already done so, download and install the decimal.jar file.
Compile the program using the command
nrc decdemo

Run the program using the command
java decdemo
This should display the results shown above.