[Cfp-interest 3150] Re: midpoint function

[David Hough CFP]

> I'm a little uncomfortable with this as a criterion.  Would it not exclude
most trigonometric functions

The elementary transcendental functions have been part of programming 
languages before I could read, and before there was such a thing as
standards for computer languages.

In contrast, had I been present at the creation, I would have argued against
inclusion of higher transcendental functions such as gamma or lgamma or
bessel functions in a programming language standard.    Like the BLAS
and LAPACK, they belong in a different kind of standard.

On the other hand, I've long supported languages standardizing compound and 
annuity, and one could argue weakly that, like pow, 
they aren't really transcendental in computer arithmetic.