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Working with the set of real numbers

Ben Finney ben+python at benfinney.id.au
Wed Feb 12 06:44:06 EST 2014 
Chris Angelico <rosuav at gmail.com> writes:

> On Wed, Feb 12, 2014 at 9:07 PM, Ben Finney <ben+python at benfinney.id.au> wrote:
> > That's why I think you need to be clear that your point isn't
> > “computers don't work with real numbers”, but rather “computers work
> > only with a limited subset of real numbers”.
>
> Hmm, I'm not sure that my statement is false. If a computer can work
> with "real numbers", then I would expect it to be able to work with
> any real number.

Likewise, if you claim that a computer *does not* work with real
numbers, then I would expect that for any real number, the computer
would fail to work with that number.

Which is why neither of those is a good statement of your position, IMO,
and you're better off saying the *limitations* you're describing.

-- 
 \      “An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be |
  `\                         made in a very narrow field.” —Niels Bohr |
_o__)                                                                  |
Ben Finney
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