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| "James J. Weinkam" <jjw@cs.sfu.ca> wrote in message
news:wGB_f.18876$4S.10053@edtnps82...
> glen herrmannsfeldt wrote:
Except that the mantissa (of a FPN) can be a fraction,
an integer, and /or a number, or whatever the designer
wants it to be.
[color=darkred]
>
> This is not so. It is a fraction, but not a fractional part. There is a big
> difference between the two and that's why it is so unfortunate that back in
> the fifties
Probably the forties, because that's when
floating-point algorithms were being written.
> some ill informed or unthinking person used the word mantissa for the
I think that you will find that the persons weren't "ill-informed" at all.
They were competent numerical mathematicians.
> significand or fraction of a floating point number.
There's nothing wrong with 'mantissa' to mean part of a FPN.
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