FP Conversions

[sun!antares.mcs.anl.gov!cody]

Just to add a little fuel to the fire.  The include file float.h
specifies the parameters DBL_MAX and DBL_MIN, for example, in
decimal.  We rely on the conversion routines to provide the
exact correct machine representation for these values.  After
all, for a given machine there is only one machine number that
satisfies each definition.  You might be surprised at how many
compilers are unable to generate those numbers from the float.h
values, and perhaps even at the magnitude of the errors (measured
in ULPs) in some cases.  A strong argument, IMHO, for exact
conversion.