fpclassify3tcl

Usage

Overview

The fpclassify command takes a floating point number, value, and returns one of the following strings that describe it:

zero

value is a floating point zero.

subnormal

value is the result of a gradual underflow.

normal

value is an ordinary floating-point number (not zero, subnormal, infinite, nor NaN).

infinite

value is a floating-point infinity.

nan

value is Not-a-Number.

The fpclassify command throws an error if value is not a floating-point value and cannot be converted to one.

Examples

This shows how to check whether the result of a computation is numerically safe or not. (Note however that it does not guard against numerical errors; just against representational problems.)

set value [command-that-computes-a-value]
switch [fpclassify $value] {
    normal - zero {
        puts "Result is $value"
    }
    infinite {
        puts "Result is infinite"
    }
    subnormal {
        puts "Result is $value - WARNING! precision lost"
    }
    nan {
        puts "Computation completely failed"
    }
}

Keywords

floating point