CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c++floating-pointrounding
pizzafilms
pizzafilms

Reputation: 4019

C++: Strange floating point math results

I've been struggling to find a crazy bug in some C++ code and narrowed it down to this small section. I placed into a simple main.c to debug it and can't figure out why the floating point math is rounding when it shouldn't. 

// setup the variables for this simple case
int writep = 672;
float offset = 672.000122;
int bufferSize = 2400;
float bufferSizeF = (float)bufferSize;

float outPointer = (float)writep - offset;       // outPointer: -0.000122070313
if(outPointer < 0.0f){
    printf("outPointer: %.9f \n", outPointer);   // outPointer: -0.000122070313
    outPointer += bufferSizeF;                   // outPointer SHOULD be: 2399.9998779296875
    printf("outpointer: %.9f \n", outPointer);   // outPointer: 2400.000000000
}

Someone...please explain. Thanks.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 106

Answers (2)

igagis
igagis

Reputation: 2079

In IEEE 754 standard the floating point numbers are not equidistantly distributed over the number axis. Density of floating point values is higher around 0 than around 2400, so this is why the rounding is done when value is around 2400.

Here is the picture to illustrate it: https://www.google.fi/search?q=IEEE+754+distribution&biw=1920&bih=895&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj-tKOWkMzPAhUEDywKHRdRAEUQ_AUIBigB#imgrc=rshe5_x1ZXFoKM%3A

Upvotes: 2

user4407569
user4407569

Reputation:

2400.000000000 and 2399.9998779296875 are too close for a standard float to differentiate them. Try this:

#include<iostream>
int main() {
    std::cout << (float)2399.9998779296875 << "\n";
}

It will probably give 2400 as output.

An IEEE 754 single precision float can only hold about 7 to 8 significant decimal digits. If you need a higher number of significant digits use a double precision double.

Upvotes: 2

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