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Re: Simple format code issue. [message #68990] Wed, 09 December 2009 15:20
penteado is currently offline  penteado
Messages: 866
Registered: February 2018
Senior Member
Administrator
On Dec 9, 9:06 pm, polystethylene <polystethyl...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> That's a good tip. Is it therefore the case that I could read in a
> value to 11 digits of precision - but that it won't be correct if I
> use floats instead of doubles?

Yes, it is the case. Floats are only good to some 6 digits, and
exponents to about 37. Doubles go to about 15 digits.

You may find useful to see

http://www.dfanning.com/math_tips/sky_is_falling.html
Re: Simple format code issue. [message #68991 is a reply to message #68990] Wed, 09 December 2009 15:06 Go to previous message
polystethylene is currently offline  polystethylene
Messages: 28
Registered: February 2009
Junior Member
That's a good tip. Is it therefore the case that I could read in a
value to 11 digits of precision - but that it won't be correct if I
use floats instead of doubles?

It was as I suspected - I saw the values in the 'variables' tab in the
debug window of the workspace, which only showed the values to 4.d.p,
when really they were to 6dp/10sf all along.

Thanks for the responses; as ever this place is full of helpful
people. Always nice to get a response from someone who's book I own as
well :D
Re: Simple format code issue. [message #68999 is a reply to message #68991] Wed, 09 December 2009 13:09 Go to previous message
Kenneth P. Bowman is currently offline  Kenneth P. Bowman
Messages: 585
Registered: May 2000
Senior Member
In article
<a40dd69e-ed04-4a18-969e-5c41c9acffc7@d10g2000yqh.googlegroups.com>,
polystethylene <polystethylene@hotmail.com> wrote:

> This one should be a doddle to resolve; but I can't for the life of me
> see what I'm doing wrong.
>
> I have 2 columns of data like this:
>
> 5147.475098 0.987662
> 5147.476562 0.985164
> 5147.478516 0.975080
> 5147.479980 0.991375
> 5147.481445 0.982826
> 5147.482910 0.987368
>
> etc...
>
> I would normally read this in with a format code like this:
>
> (2x,F0,3x,F0) - or sometimes drop the x's as you don't really need
> them...
>
> Anyway, this code reads the data in to 8 sig fig (1st column), and 6
> sig fig (second column)
>
> So then I tried a code of (F10.6, F0)... and I get the same issue - I
> can't get more than 4 d.p precision...
>
> I tried it with Doubles as well; but no luck. This has got to be
> simple right? Format codes are a weakness of mine, so I'm totally
> stumped.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> Cheers,
> Stefan

If you really want 11 digits of precision, make sure you are reading
into double precision floating point variables.

Ken Bowman
Re: Simple format code issue. [message #69001 is a reply to message #68999] Wed, 09 December 2009 12:09 Go to previous message
penteado is currently offline  penteado
Messages: 866
Registered: February 2018
Senior Member
Administrator
On Dec 9, 6:02 pm, polystethylene <polystethyl...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> This one should be a doddle to resolve; but I can't for the life of me
> see what I'm doing wrong.
>
> I have 2 columns of data like this:
>
>   5147.475098   0.987662
>   5147.476562   0.985164
>   5147.478516   0.975080
>   5147.479980   0.991375
>   5147.481445   0.982826
>   5147.482910   0.987368
>
> etc...
>
> I would normally read this in with a format code like this:
>
> (2x,F0,3x,F0) - or sometimes drop the x's as you don't really need
> them...
>
> Anyway, this code reads the data in to 8 sig fig (1st column), and 6
> sig fig (second column)
>
> So then I tried a code of (F10.6, F0)... and I get the same issue - I
> can't get more than 4 d.p precision...
>
> I tried it with Doubles as well; but no luck. This has got to be
> simple right? Format codes are a weakness of mine, so I'm totally
> stumped.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> Cheers,
> Stefan

What makes you think you do not have more than 4 digits? This
description makes it sound like the sky is falling.

Anyway, if you have nicely formatted columns like that in your file,
you probably do not even need to specify a format, depending on how
you read it.

Can you tell us exactly what you use to read the file and why you
think there is a problem?
Re: Simple format code issue. [message #69002 is a reply to message #69001] Wed, 09 December 2009 12:07 Go to previous message
polystethylene is currently offline  polystethylene
Messages: 28
Registered: February 2009
Junior Member
You know what, I'm just being stupid.

It is being held to the desired precision isn't it? I'm just not
printing it out at the desired precision. What a fool.

Sorry guys - nothing to see here, please disperse :D
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