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- Path: sparky!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!darwin.sura.net!paladin.american.edu!auvm!UHUNIX.BITNET!DANIEL
- Message-ID: <CMM.0.88.726320822.daniel@uhunix.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu>
- Newsgroups: bit.listserv.stat-l
- Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 01:47:02 HST
- Sender: STATISTICAL CONSULTING <STAT-L@MCGILL1.BITNET>
- From: Daniel Blaine <DANIEL@UHUNIX.BITNET>
- Subject: Re: calculators and computers: precision
- In-Reply-To: Your message of Wed, 6 Jan 1993 10:08:06 GMT
- Lines: 17
-
- > Dave Arday is interested in comparing the precision of his
- > calculator and computer. Phil Miller mentioned 69! as the
- > biggest factorial that the PC will handle. This, by less than
- > a coincidence, is the limit of what my Sharp EL-506H and my Tandy
- > (submerged on the desk, no doubt, at the moment) will handle.
- > 69!/68! is correctly evaluated by them both as being 69. 70!
- > simply produces an error. But Fisher's exact test is a good case
- > in point: even with frequencies less than 69, the calculation
- > will overflow if you multiply out the top of the line and then
- > the bottom, before dividing. Anyone who has done this test by hand
- > will know that a little factor finding often reduces the calculation
- > to the very manageable.
-
- "Ditto" for the "CASIO fx-300A" (Scientific Calculator).
-
- Daniel Blaine University of Hawaii at Manoa
- daniel@uhunix.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu daniel@uhunix.bitnet
-