I disagree (for the title I see now, which is “Floats are weird”). The problem isn’t about floats, but about inexact computation and, as you say, catastrophic cancellation.
If, for example, you do all your computations in 7.6 digit base 11 numbers (seven digits before the undecimal point, six after it), you get the same problem.
I disagree (for the title I see now, which is “Floats are weird”). The problem isn’t about floats, but about inexact computation and, as you say, catastrophic cancellation.
If, for example, you do all your computations in 7.6 digit base 11 numbers (seven digits before the undecimal point, six after it), you get the same problem.