Floating Point and Financial Software

[Perry E. Metzger]

Mike Duvos writes:
> There seem to be a few mini-flames on the list over whether
> floating point data representations are appropriate for financial
> software.
> 
> In a nutshell, the answer is "YES", and the use of floating point
> arithmetic is common in such applications.

Again, I have seen floating point used for things like rates and in
simulations. I have never seen it used for accounting. If you can
name a system in which accounts were kept in floats I'd like to hear
about it -- personally I'd be surprised. I've never seen such a thing.

.pm