Explain fixed-point math to a small-to-medium sized business owner.
With signed 16-bit integers (which Apple Integer Basic provided), you've got a range of 32767 to -32768 (wikipedia says Apple Integer Basic couldn't display -32768). But if do the naive fixed-point using 16-bit ints, you'll have a range of 327.67 to -327.68, assuming 2-digit for decimals.
16-bit integers didn't have enough precision for many of those 1970s/1980s use cases.
yes, floating-point math has problems. but they are well-known problems - those corner cases were well-known back then.
I'd rather explain fixed point math to a small business owner than explain to his accountant why pennies keep randomly disappearing and popping into existence.
With signed 16-bit integers (which Apple Integer Basic provided), you've got a range of 32767 to -32768 (wikipedia says Apple Integer Basic couldn't display -32768). But if do the naive fixed-point using 16-bit ints, you'll have a range of 327.67 to -327.68, assuming 2-digit for decimals.
16-bit integers didn't have enough precision for many of those 1970s/1980s use cases.
yes, floating-point math has problems. but they are well-known problems - those corner cases were well-known back then.