[REBOL] Re: mathematical rounding...
From: alans:cuervo:stanford at: 6-Nov-2001 14:50
> --- Thomas E Conlin <[tomc--darkwing--uoregon--edu]> wrote:
> >
> >
> > in the case of .5 there is a choice and different
> > results have been in
> > vouge at different times "round to the even number"
> > and "random" are a
> > couple of strategies I recall but I think these days
> > "round towards zero"
> > is expected
> > (the point of these equally (in)valid strateges is
> > to minimize bias)
>
> I've almost universally seen (except when there was
> a specific reason for using another method) round
> *away* from zero at 0.5 as the standard.
That would preferentially add more error to sums, and cause
problems with statistics, unless you could guarantee
a random distribution of positive and negative numbers in
the set you are working with.
> Chris Dicely
>
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--Alan
<[alans--cuervo--stanford--edu]>
