optimization/9654: extra-precision fp comparisons are less accurate
rearnsha@gcc.gnu.org
rearnsha@gcc.gnu.org
Wed Feb 12 17:51:00 GMT 2003
http://gcc.gnu.org/cgi-bin/gnatsweb.pl?cmd=view%20audit-trail&database=gcc&pr=9654
I think it's very dangerous to assume that
acos(something-nearly-equal-to-1)
won't return 0, or, more importantly
sin (acos(something-nearly-equal-to-1)
won't.
A simple test after the assignment of o would suffice to avoid this
problem, eg:
#include <math.h>
double s(double t) throw()
{
double d = 0.75+t;
double o = d < 1.0 ? acos(d) : 1.0/67108864.0;
if (o == 0.0) o = 1.0 / 67108864.0;
return sin(o*0.5)/sin(o);
}
int main(void)
{
return isnan(s(0.25-1.0/18014398509481984.0));
}
If you are really paranoid, then a range check on small o and applying
L'Hoptial's Rule might not be a bad idea.
I really don't think you'd like the alternatives to -ffloat-store any
more than you like -ffloat-store.
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