Why is my math getting rounded?

[benphp]

var numerator = 186100488800821781.9216;

var denominator = 496;

var quot1 = (numerator / denominator);

document.form.quotient.value = quot1;

 

The result is:

375202598388753.6

 

but the real number (using a calculator) is

375202598388753.59258387096774194

 

It's been rounded off - without even using Math.Round. How do I get the actual number?

 

 

 

[Mchl]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floating_point

[benphp]

Thanks. Do you know how to fix it?

[Mchl]

That's the precision limit for 32 bit (single) floating point number. Not sure if you can have any more precision in JavaScript.

 

[edit]

 

32bits is single precision of course.

[Daniel0]

As soon as you take any calculus classes you'll realize that absolutely precision is unnecessary, and indeed in many cases impossible. Which number is for instance closest to 0? 1? How about 0.1, 0.01, 0.001, etc.?

 

Even the number you you say is the "real number" is in fact not "real" in the sense you use the word. It's just a matter of how accurate you bother to be.

 

Anyway, check this out: http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~tjw/jsbn/. I haven't used it myself, but it came up on a Google search result page.