Abnormal normalizations?

[Doug Gwyn (ACISD/MCSB)]

More to the point, some f.p. representations may be in registers and
some in RAM, and the number of bits of precision can differ depending
on which kind of storage has been allocated to the variable (or
intermediate result, in the midst of a computation).  I am told that
there are actual computers like this.  Thus, some bits can be "scraped
off" when a quantity represented in a register passes through a memory
"knothole", and naturally the skinny value may not compare equal to
the original wider value.

It amazes me that there are still people (not necessarily meaning RFG)
who think that comparing f.p. representations for exact equality is a
reasonable thing to be doing.