Unix/Linux Math Decimal to Whole Number Format? Post: 302549989

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Homework and Emergencies Homework & Coursework Questions Unix/Linux Math Decimal to Whole Number Format? Post 302549989 by Corona688 on Wednesday 24th of August 2011 10:54:25 AM

08-24-2011

Registered User

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iceman69

I have no clue on why this teacher wants us to use whole numbers in place of .03 for the tax.

Probably because most shells can't do math on numbers with decimal points. They'd either give a completely unexpected result, or discard the decimal points entirely.

Another reason whole numbers are used for finances is accuracy. Most languages which support decimal points use floating point numbers to do so, which actually have a fixed number of decimal places and multiply by 2^n to represent very large or very small numbers. This is a good approximation for math, but if you're dealing with finances, you might create headaches for accountants by being out quite a few cents here and there every time you add huge numbers of dollars.

How to use whole numbers instead of decimal points? Calculate everything in cents. No decimals needed (except maybe for printing).

How I'd convert decimal point to whole numbers is to multiply by 100... since you can't do that math on decimal-point numbers in the shell, use a number trick instead; split "13.42" into "13" and "42", make sure "42" is exactly two digits long, then stick them together into "1342". Voila, whole number in cents.

How to do this depends on your shell. What is it?

Corona688

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LEARN ABOUT HPUX

_decodedecimal32

_decodedecimal64(3M)													      _decodedecimal64(3M)

NAME

       _decodedecimal64(), _decodedecimal128(), _decodedecimal32() - decode decimal-encoded decimal data

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

       There  are  two	standard  bit-encodings  for decimal floating-point data: binary and decimal.  Both encoding provide exactly the same data
       (analogous to big endian and little endian encodings).  The HP-UX decimal floating-point types use the binary encoding.

       The function decodes x, interpreted as a decimal-encoded 64-bit decimal datum, into the encoding for

       is a version of it takes a argument and returns a result.

       is a version of it takes a argument and returns a result.

       These math functions are supported for HP-UX 11i Version 3 September 2008 Update and forward.

USAGE

       To use any of these functions, compile with the option.

       Make sure your program defines and then includes

       Link in the math library by specifying or on the linking command line.

       For more information, see the at the following site:

RETURN VALUE

       returns x in the encoding for

       raises no exceptions.

ERRORS

       No errors are defined.

SEE ALSO

       _decodebinary64(3M), _encodebinary64(3M), _encodedecimal64(3M), math(5).

STANDARDS CONFORMANCE

       These functions are not specified in any standard.

							     HP Integrity Server Only					      _decodedecimal64(3M)