0001817: Complex infinity/nan field values

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0001817

OCaml

OCaml general

public

2003-09-05 03:31

2007-11-25 20:25

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feature

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0001817: Complex infinity/nan field values

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Full_Name: william margolis
Version: 3.06
OS: linux (suse 8.1)
Submission from: adsl-63-199-206-139.dsl.lsan03.pacbell.net (63.199.206.139)

I love the Complex module, BUT:

Objective Caml version 3.06

# 1/0;;
Exception: Division_by_zero.
# 1.0/.0.;;
-: float = inf.
# Complex.div Complex.one Complex.zero;;
-:: Complex.t = {Complex.re = nan; Complex.im = nan.}

I understand why this is occuring, according to the standard sequencing through
the complex division algorithm. But, for people working on the Rieman sphere,
it would be very, very pleasant if 1/0 could register as, say {Complex.re =
infinity; Complex.im = 0.} or something similar !?

This would certainly please extended-complex-plane people. (We expect a/0 = an
infinity type, not an nan...)

In any case, my desire is that I may be able to distinguish in the complex case
between nan and infinity cases, without having to create, say:

type sphere = INF | C of float * float ;;

and do all the argument matching comparisons each time.

Is there an easy/efficient implementation !?

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complex_test.ml [^] (8,547 bytes) 2007-11-25 20:25

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0004748

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Complex +-0.

Notes
(0004348) Christophe Troestler (reporter) 2007-11-25 01:04 edited on: 2007-12-01 11:04	It seems that the better one can do is to follow the ISO/IEC 9899:1999 standard, annex G (IEC 60559-compatible complex arithmetic (informative), pages 465–478. ANSI, 1999.). Then # Complex.div Complex.one Complex.zero;; - : Complex.t = {re = infinity; im = nan} which is an infinity because a complex number with any infinite component is considered infinite (the only complex NaN is { re = nan; im = nan }. I have uploaded the file "complex_test.ml" with an implementation of mul and div. See also: ftp://ftp.win.ua.ac.be/pub/preprints/03/criticism.pdf [^]

Issue History
Date Modified	Username	Field	Change
2005-11-18 10:13	administrator	New Issue
2007-11-25 01:04	Christophe Troestler	Note Added: 0004348
2007-11-25 20:25	Christophe Troestler	File Added: complex_test.ml
2007-12-01 11:04	Christophe Troestler	Note Edited: 0004348
2009-08-19 14:59	xclerc	Relationship added	related to 0004748