The simple answer is that some decimal fractions cannot be accurately representred by binary fractions for similar reason as some ordinary fractions cannot be represented using decimal fractions.

1/3 is an exact value, but the closest we can get to representing it as a decimal fraction is 0.3333333333333...

No matter how many 3's you add after the decimal point, you have never quite accurately represented it.

Update: I couldn't work out how to easily show what I was trying to show, and the other posts say what I was trying to illustrate better than I was going to anyway.

Cor! Like yer ring! ... HALO dammit! ... 'Ave it yer way! Hal-lo, Mister la-de-da. ... Like yer ring!

In reply to Re: Still puzzled by floats by BrowserUk
in thread Still puzzled by floats by leriksen

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