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author | Zeev Suraski <zeev@php.net> | 2000-11-22 20:20:02 +0000 |
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committer | Zeev Suraski <zeev@php.net> | 2000-11-22 20:20:02 +0000 |
commit | c476bce2f1493f46b7bdd1932255a43ae2c7fe44 (patch) | |
tree | 551268ab8c74fe5042ca6a7dfe85458786bf1431 /ext/bcmath/libbcmath/FAQ | |
parent | be6ab204158c836b10e1f586059462807288e2e3 (diff) | |
download | php-git-c476bce2f1493f46b7bdd1932255a43ae2c7fe44.tar.gz |
At long last, import the bcmath library, by Phil Nelson
Diffstat (limited to 'ext/bcmath/libbcmath/FAQ')
-rw-r--r-- | ext/bcmath/libbcmath/FAQ | 21 |
1 files changed, 21 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/ext/bcmath/libbcmath/FAQ b/ext/bcmath/libbcmath/FAQ new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..6499b1cffb --- /dev/null +++ b/ext/bcmath/libbcmath/FAQ @@ -0,0 +1,21 @@ +BCMATH FAQ: + +1) Why BCMATH? + +The math routines of GNU bc become more generally useful in a +library form. By separating the BCMATH library from GNU bc, +GNU bc can be under the GPL and BCMATH can be under the LGPL. + +2) Why BCMATH when GMP exists? + +GMP has "integers" (no digits after a decimal), "rational numbers" +(stored as 2 integers) and "floats". None of these will correctly +represent a POSIX BC number. Floats are the closest, but will not +behave correctly for many computations. For example, BC numbers have +a "scale" that represent the number of digits to represent after the +decimal point. The multiplying two of these numbers requires one to +calculate an exact number of digits after the decimal point regardless +of the number of digits in the integer part. GMP floats have a +"fixed, but arbitrary" mantissa and so multiplying two floats will end +up dropping digits BC must calculate. + |