Finding the maximum of a floating point counter

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My apologies if this has been asked before, but I cannot find it.

I was wondering if there is a way to calculate the point at which a single precision floating point number that is used as a counter will reach a 'maximum' (the point at which it is no longer able to add another value due to loss of precision).

For example, if I continuously add 0.1f to a float I will eventually reach a point where the value does not change

Submitted by admin on Wed, 11/07/2018 - 11:25
c++
floating-point
math

Answer 7

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Yes it is possible. there is std::numeric_limits::epsilon() which defines smallest value which can increase value 1.0.

Using this you can calculate this limit for any number.

In C there is DBL_EPSILON

So in your case this goes like this:

Submitted by admin on Wed, 11/07/2018 - 11:30
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