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<title>Nyyyy: SD3#11: Maximum normalized numbers</title>
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<p><br>
<!-- Who are the authors... -->
<b>Submitter:</b>Fred Tydeman<br>
<!-- What is the date of submission. yyyy-mm-dd -->
<b>Submission Date:</b> 2018-10-??<br>
<b>Document:</b> WG14 Nyyyy<br>
<b>Reference Documents:</b> <a href=
"http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg14/www/docs/n1870.htm">N1870,</a>
<a href=
"http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg14/www/docs/n2092.htm">N2092</a></p>
<p>Summary</p>
<p>SD3 item 11 (part of DR 467) against C2X: Maximum normalized
numbers.</p>
<p>DR 467 decided that <b>FLT_MAX, DBL_MAX, LDBL_MAX</b> are the
maximum representable finite numbers for their respective types.
Therefore, there are no symbols for the maximum normalized
(numbers with full precision) numbers for their respective types.
Users may have a need to know if (and where) there are large
numbers with less than full precision. This corresponds to the
case of small numbers (<b>*_MIN</b> versus
<b>*_TRUE_MIN</b>).</p>
<p>Suggested Technical Corrigendum:</p>
<p>Add a new bullet item to §5.2.4.2.2 paragraph 13:</p>
<blockquote>
<pre>
-- maximum normalized floating-point number [copy math formula from FLT_MAX],
<code><b>
FLT_NORM_MAX 1E+37
DBL_NORM_MAX 1E+37
LDBL_NORM_MAX 1E+37
</b></code>
</pre>
</blockquote>
<p>Existing practice</p>
<p>For most implementations, these three macros will be the same
as the corresponding <b>*_MAX</b> macros. The only known case
where that is not true is those where <b>long double</b> is
implemented as a pair of <b>double</b>s (where <b>LDBL_MAX</b>
could be twice <b>LDBL_NORM_MAX</b>, but with half the
precision).</p>
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