Provided by: tcllib_1.17-dfsg-1_all 
NAME
math::bigfloat - Arbitrary precision floating-point numbers
SYNOPSIS
package require Tcl 8.5
package require math::bigfloat ?2.0.1?
fromstr number ?trailingZeros?
tostr ?-nosci? number
fromdouble double ?decimals?
todouble number
isInt number
isFloat number
int2float integer ?decimals?
add x y
sub x y
mul x y
div x y
mod x y
abs x
opp x
pow x n
iszero x
equal x y
compare x y
sqrt x
log x
exp x
cos x
sin x
tan x
cotan x
acos x
asin x
atan x
cosh x
sinh x
tanh x
pi n
rad2deg radians
deg2rad degrees
round x
ceil x
floor x
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
DESCRIPTION
The bigfloat package provides arbitrary precision floating-point math capabilities to the
Tcl language. It is designed to work with Tcl 8.5, but for Tcl 8.4 is provided an earlier
version of this package. See WHAT ABOUT TCL 8.4 ? for more explanations. By convention,
we will talk about the numbers treated in this library as :
• BigFloat for floating-point numbers of arbitrary length.
• integers for arbitrary length signed integers, just as basic integers since Tcl
8.5.
Each BigFloat is an interval, namely [m-d, m+d], where m is the mantissa and d the
uncertainty, representing the limitation of that number's precision. This is why we call
such mathematics interval computations. Just take an example in physics : when you
measure a temperature, not all digits you read are significant. Sometimes you just cannot
trust all digits - not to mention if doubles (f.p. numbers) can handle all these digits.
BigFloat can handle this problem - trusting the digits you get - plus the ability to store
numbers with an arbitrary precision. BigFloats are internally represented at Tcl lists:
this package provides a set of procedures operating against the internal representation in
order to :
• perform math operations on BigFloats and (optionnaly) with integers.
• convert BigFloats from their internal representations to strings, and vice versa.
INTRODUCTION
fromstr number ?trailingZeros?
Converts number into a BigFloat. Its precision is at least the number of digits
provided by number. If the number contains only digits and eventually a minus
sign, it is considered as an integer. Subsequently, no conversion is done at all.
trailingZeros - the number of zeros to append at the end of the floating-point
number to get more precision. It cannot be applied to an integer.
# x and y are BigFloats : the first string contained a dot, and the second an e sign
set x [fromstr -1.000000]
set y [fromstr 2000e30]
# let's see how we get integers
set t 20000000000000
# the old way (package 1.2) is still supported for backwards compatibility :
set m [fromstr 10000000000]
# but we do not need fromstr for integers anymore
set n -39
# t, m and n are integers
The number's last digit is considered by the procedure to be true at +/-1, For example,
1.00 is the interval [0.99, 1.01], and 0.43 the interval [0.42, 0.44]. The Pi constant
may be approximated by the number "3.1415". This string could be considered as the
interval [3.1414 , 3.1416] by fromstr. So, when you mean 1.0 as a double, you may have to
write 1.000000 to get enough precision. To learn more about this subject, see PRECISION.
For example :
set x [fromstr 1.0000000000]
# the next line does the same, but smarter
set y [fromstr 1. 10]
tostr ?-nosci? number
Returns a string form of a BigFloat, in which all digits are exacts. All exact
digits means a rounding may occur, for example to zero, if the uncertainty interval
does not clearly show the true digits. number may be an integer, causing the
command to return exactly the input argument. With the -nosci option, the number
returned is never shown in scientific notation, i.e. not like '3.4523e+5' but like
'345230.'.
puts [tostr [fromstr 0.99999]] ;# 1.0000
puts [tostr [fromstr 1.00001]] ;# 1.0000
puts [tostr [fromstr 0.002]] ;# 0.e-2
See PRECISION for that matter. See also iszero for how to detect zeros, which is
useful when performing a division.
fromdouble double ?decimals?
Converts a double (a simple floating-point value) to a BigFloat, with exactly
decimals digits. Without the decimals argument, it behaves like fromstr. Here,
the only important feature you might care of is the ability to create BigFloats
with a fixed number of decimals.
tostr [fromstr 1.111 4]
# returns : 1.111000 (3 zeros)
tostr [fromdouble 1.111 4]
# returns : 1.111
todouble number
Returns a double, that may be used in expr, from a BigFloat.
isInt number
Returns 1 if number is an integer, 0 otherwise.
isFloat number
Returns 1 if number is a BigFloat, 0 otherwise.
int2float integer ?decimals?
Converts an integer to a BigFloat with decimals trailing zeros. The default, and
minimal, number of decimals is 1. When converting back to string, one decimal is
lost:
set n 10
set x [int2float $n]; # like fromstr 10.0
puts [tostr $x]; # prints "10."
set x [int2float $n 3]; # like fromstr 10.000
puts [tostr $x]; # prints "10.00"
ARITHMETICS
add x y
sub x y
mul x y
Return the sum, difference and product of x by y. x - may be either a BigFloat or
an integer y - may be either a BigFloat or an integer When both are integers, these
commands behave like expr.
div x y
mod x y
Return the quotient and the rest of x divided by y. Each argument (x and y) can be
either a BigFloat or an integer, but you cannot divide an integer by a BigFloat
Divide by zero throws an error.
abs x Returns the absolute value of x
opp x Returns the opposite of x
pow x n
Returns x taken to the nth power. It only works if n is an integer. x might be a
BigFloat or an integer.
COMPARISONS
iszero x
Returns 1 if x is :
• a BigFloat close enough to zero to raise "divide by zero".
• the integer 0.
See here how numbers that are close to zero are converted to strings:
tostr [fromstr 0.001] ; # -> 0.e-2
tostr [fromstr 0.000000] ; # -> 0.e-5
tostr [fromstr -0.000001] ; # -> 0.e-5
tostr [fromstr 0.0] ; # -> 0.
tostr [fromstr 0.002] ; # -> 0.e-2
set a [fromstr 0.002] ; # uncertainty interval : 0.001, 0.003
tostr $a ; # 0.e-2
iszero $a ; # false
set a [fromstr 0.001] ; # uncertainty interval : 0.000, 0.002
tostr $a ; # 0.e-2
iszero $a ; # true
equal x y
Returns 1 if x and y are equal, 0 elsewhere.
compare x y
Returns 0 if both BigFloat arguments are equal, 1 if x is greater than y, and -1 if
x is lower than y. You would not be able to compare an integer to a BigFloat : the
operands should be both BigFloats, or both integers.
ANALYSIS
sqrt x
log x
exp x
cos x
sin x
tan x
cotan x
acos x
asin x
atan x
cosh x
sinh x
tanh x The above functions return, respectively, the following : square root, logarithm,
exponential, cosine, sine, tangent, cotangent, arc cosine, arc sine, arc tangent,
hyperbolic cosine, hyperbolic sine, hyperbolic tangent, of a BigFloat named x.
pi n Returns a BigFloat representing the Pi constant with n digits after the dot. n is
a positive integer.
rad2deg radians
deg2rad degrees
radians - angle expressed in radians (BigFloat)
degrees - angle expressed in degrees (BigFloat)
Convert an angle from radians to degrees, and vice versa.
ROUNDING
round x
ceil x
floor x
The above functions return the x BigFloat, rounded like with the same mathematical
function in expr, and returns it as an integer.
PRECISION
How do conversions work with precision ?
• When a BigFloat is converted from string, the internal representation holds its
uncertainty as 1 at the level of the last digit.
• During computations, the uncertainty of each result is internally computed the
closest to the reality, thus saving the memory used.
• When converting back to string, the digits that are printed are not subject to
uncertainty. However, some rounding is done, as not doing so causes severe
problems.
Uncertainties are kept in the internal representation of the number ; it is recommended to
use tostr only for outputting data (on the screen or in a file), and NEVER call fromstr
with the result of tostr. It is better to always keep operands in their internal
representation. Due to the internals of this library, the uncertainty interval may be
slightly wider than expected, but this should not cause false digits.
Now you may ask this question : What precision am I going to get after calling add, sub,
mul or div? First you set a number from the string representation and, by the way, its
uncertainty is set:
set a [fromstr 1.230]
# $a belongs to [1.229, 1.231]
set a [fromstr 1.000]
# $a belongs to [0.999, 1.001]
# $a has a relative uncertainty of 0.1% : 0.001(the uncertainty)/1.000(the medium value)
The uncertainty of the sum, or the difference, of two numbers, is the sum of their
respective uncertainties.
set a [fromstr 1.230]
set b [fromstr 2.340]
set sum [add $a $b]]
# the result is : [3.568, 3.572] (the last digit is known with an uncertainty of 2)
tostr $sum ; # 3.57
But when, for example, we add or substract an integer to a BigFloat, the relative
uncertainty of the result is unchanged. So it is desirable not to convert integers to
BigFloats:
set a [fromstr 0.999999999]
# now something dangerous
set b [fromstr 2.000]
# the result has only 3 digits
tostr [add $a $b]
# how to keep precision at its maximum
puts [tostr [add $a 2]]
For multiplication and division, the relative uncertainties of the product or the
quotient, is the sum of the relative uncertainties of the operands. Take care of division
by zero : check each divider with iszero.
set num [fromstr 4.00]
set denom [fromstr 0.01]
puts [iszero $denom];# true
set quotient [div $num $denom];# error : divide by zero
# opposites of our operands
puts [compare $num [opp $num]]; # 1
puts [compare $denom [opp $denom]]; # 0 !!!
# No suprise ! 0 and its opposite are the same...
Effects of the precision of a number considered equal to zero to the cos function:
puts [tostr [cos [fromstr 0. 10]]]; # -> 1.000000000
puts [tostr [cos [fromstr 0. 5]]]; # -> 1.0000
puts [tostr [cos [fromstr 0e-10]]]; # -> 1.000000000
puts [tostr [cos [fromstr 1e-10]]]; # -> 1.000000000
BigFloats with different internal representations may be converted to the same string.
For most analysis functions (cosine, square root, logarithm, etc.), determining the
precision of the result is difficult. It seems however that in many cases, the loss of
precision in the result is of one or two digits. There are some exceptions : for example,
tostr [exp [fromstr 100.0 10]]
# returns : 2.688117142e+43 which has only 10 digits of precision, although the entry
# has 14 digits of precision.
WHAT ABOUT TCL 8.4 ?
If your setup do not provide Tcl 8.5 but supports 8.4, the package can still be loaded,
switching back to math::bigfloat 1.2. Indeed, an important function introduced in Tcl 8.5
is required - the ability to handle bignums, that we can do with expr. Before 8.5, this
ability was provided by several packages, including the pure-Tcl math::bignum package
provided by tcllib. In this case, all you need to know, is that arguments to the commands
explained here, are expected to be in their internal representation. So even with
integers, you will need to call fromstr and tostr in order to convert them between string
and internal representations.
#
# with Tcl 8.5
# ============
set a [pi 20]
# round returns an integer and 'everything is a string' applies to integers
# whatever big they are
puts [round [mul $a 10000000000]]
#
# the same with Tcl 8.4
# =====================
set a [pi 20]
# bignums (arbitrary length integers) need a conversion hook
set b [fromstr 10000000000]
# round returns a bignum:
# before printing it, we need to convert it with 'tostr'
puts [tostr [round [mul $a $b]]]
NAMESPACES AND OTHER PACKAGES
We have not yet discussed about namespaces because we assumed that you had imported public
commands into the global namespace, like this:
namespace import ::math::bigfloat::*
If you matter much about avoiding names conflicts, I considere it should be resolved by
the following :
package require math::bigfloat
# beware: namespace ensembles are not available in Tcl 8.4
namespace eval ::math::bigfloat {namespace ensemble create -command ::bigfloat}
# from now, the bigfloat command takes as subcommands all original math::bigfloat::* commands
set a [bigfloat sub [bigfloat fromstr 2.000] [bigfloat fromstr 0.530]]
puts [bigfloat tostr $a]
EXAMPLES
Guess what happens when you are doing some astronomy. Here is an example :
# convert acurrate angles with a millisecond-rated accuracy
proc degree-angle {degrees minutes seconds milliseconds} {
set result 0
set div 1
foreach factor {1 1000 60 60} var [list $milliseconds $seconds $minutes $degrees] {
# we convert each entry var into milliseconds
set div [expr {$div*$factor}]
incr result [expr {$var*$div}]
}
return [div [int2float $result] $div]
}
# load the package
package require math::bigfloat
namespace import ::math::bigfloat::*
# work with angles : a standard formula for navigation (taking bearings)
set angle1 [deg2rad [degree-angle 20 30 40 0]]
set angle2 [deg2rad [degree-angle 21 0 50 500]]
set opposite3 [deg2rad [degree-angle 51 0 50 500]]
set sinProduct [mul [sin $angle1] [sin $angle2]]
set cosProduct [mul [cos $angle1] [cos $angle2]]
set angle3 [asin [add [mul $sinProduct [cos $opposite3]] $cosProduct]]
puts "angle3 : [tostr [rad2deg $angle3]]"
BUGS, IDEAS, FEEDBACK
This document, and the package it describes, will undoubtedly contain bugs and other
problems. Please report such in the category math :: bignum :: float of the Tcllib
Trackers [http://core.tcl.tk/tcllib/reportlist]. Please also report any ideas for
enhancements you may have for either package and/or documentation.
KEYWORDS
computations, floating-point, interval, math, multiprecision, tcl
CATEGORY
Mathematics
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) 2004-2008, by Stephane Arnold <stephanearnold at yahoo dot fr>