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Re: Why float is called as 'float', not 'real'? [message #53168 is a reply to message #53166]

Fri, 23 March 2007 22:51

David Fanning
Messages: 11724
Registered: August 2001

Senior Member

DirtyHarry writes:

> Is there any particular reason to call 'float' instead of 'real'?

Personal computing didn't really get started until the
late 1970s. The IBM PC was released in about 1981. At
that time there were still a lot of "hippies" in graduate
school, and they were always talking about "getting real."
Since computers were not all that accurate at first,
decimal point values seemed to "float around" a lot.
You couldn't put a lot of faith in a number, even if
it was expressed to six or eight decimal places.

So between people getting sick and tired of hearing
about getting "real", and the computer values "floating",
these numbers came to be called "floats" rather than "reals".

Cheers,

David

P.S. My youngest turned 18 today. It is possible I've
had more wine than is probably good for me. :-)

--
David Fanning, Ph.D.
Fanning Software Consulting, Inc.
Coyote's Guide to IDL Programming: http://www.dfanning.com/
Sepore ma de ni thui. ("Perhaps thou speakest truth.")

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[Message index]

		Re: Why float is called as 'float', not 'real'? By: James Kuyper on Sat, 24 March 2007 04:56
		Re: Why float is called as 'float', not 'real'? By: kim20026 on Sat, 24 March 2007 01:22
		Re: Why float is called as 'float', not 'real'? By: David Fanning on Fri, 23 March 2007 22:51

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