Return to the archive index

Re: Vector math in simple micros

From: Mark Willis <>
Date: Sun, 04 Jul 1999 19:24:28 -0700

Paul B. Webster VK2BZC wrote:
> 
> Dave VanHorn wrote:
> 
> >> For small theta X ~ R
> > One thing, what do you mean by ~ here?
> 
>   "X is approximately equal to R".
> <snipped>
> --
>   Cheers,
>         Paul B.

  Funny story I've heard.

  Apparently, one young engineer once decided to REALLY simplify sin(x),
when writing this function in assembly, they decided to just simply
return, not the tiny small x which is approximately the correct answer,
but, instead, 0 (Well, we DID say x is small, right?  so it's close to
0, right?)

  The craft this sin(x) approximation was supposed to be controlling,
had bad problems with the rudder never deflecting, for "some strange
mysterious reason".  <VBG>

  Be careful not to OVER-optimize, I guess is the moral of this
story...  Software testing can be a good idea, huh?

  Mark

--
Subcription/unsubscription/info requests: send e-mail with subject of
"subscribe", "unsubscribe", or "info" to 
Wear-Hard Mailing List Archive (searchable): http://wearables.blu.org

+Previous Message in Thread | Next Message in Thread

From Wear-Hard Mailing list Archive (WH)
Maintained by R. Paul McCarty

Archive created with babymail