Maybe Not. The source file for the program specified the
constant -8.32 but the program
printed -8.31999969
There
are two things wrong:
(1) the value -8.32
can not be represented exactly in binary, and
(2) the last digit or two of the printed value are likely in error.
Single precision floats have (recall) only 24 bits
of precision.
This is the equivalent of 7 to 8 decimal digits.
SPIM should have printed -8.3199999 to the window.
The 7 or 8 decimal digits of precision for single precision float is much worse than most electronic calculators. It is usually unwise to use single precision floating point in programs. (But these chapters use it since the goal is to explain concepts, not to write production grade programs). Double precision has 15 or 16 decimal places of precision.
How many decimal places of precision does Java's primitive type
float have?
How many decimal places of precision does C's data type
float have?