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Re: Type of array to store large numbers [message #80265]

Fri, 25 May 2012 07:02

Carsten Lechte
Messages: 124
Registered: August 2006

Senior Member

On 25/05/12 15:07, Sir Loin Steak wrote:

> Sorry, what I meant was I want to write the data to a file for another
> program to read, but the data were always output in the form 401.480.

If you want to save a number in full precision (e.g. when saving the
state of some numerical code), simply increasing the number of
significant digits is wasteful and does not work for numbers that are
not representable in the decimal system.

You can look at binary formats, like HDF5 (look for routines starting
with H5_ in the idl help).

If you want to stay within the more universally readable ascii realm,
ANSI C defines a formatting code "%a" that writes an exact
representation of the floating point number, using hex for the
mantissa and decimal for the exponent. Unfortunately, IDL 6.4's
printf-style format codes do not implement this.

If you just want a little more precision, use the format code as you
mentioned.

chl

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[Message index]

		Re: Type of array to store large numbers By: Carsten Lechte on Fri, 25 May 2012 07:02
		Re: Type of array to store large numbers By: Russell Ryan on Fri, 25 May 2012 06:36
		Re: Type of array to store large numbers By: Sir Loin Steak on Fri, 25 May 2012 06:07
		Re: Type of array to store large numbers By: Fabzi on Fri, 25 May 2012 05:58

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