Re:1/9998 = 0.0001 0002 0004 0008 0016 0032 0064 0128 0256..
by pushedx on Thursday January 30, 2014 @02:29PM
(#7152806)
This site [1] reveals the secret to that pocket calculator shortcut and a few others, and also provides useful algorithms for calculating things such as square roots and logarithms.
Re:1/9998 = 0.0001 0002 0004 0008 0016 0032 0064 0128 0256..
by jloughry on Thursday January 30, 2014 @02:52PM
(#7152930)
Wonderful! That site gives tests that can be performed from the keyboard to distinguish between Casio and non-Casio architectures, mentions the invisible 9th digit of precision, and notes that some calculators get it wrong.
The old Sinclair pocket calculators had some known arithmetic inaccuracies.
I have written an iOS calculator app and had very interesting times trying to find and mimic these shortcuts. I have thought for a long time they had to follow from some simple implementation detail, as all the calculators got them precisely the same, but I never found this one consistent rule, I had to implement the features in a series of hacks.