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Mata Matters: Overflow, underflow and the IEEE floating-point format

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  • Jean Marie Linhart

    (StataCorp)

Abstract

Mata is Stata’s matrix language. The Mata Matters column shows how Mata can be used interactively to solve problems and as a programming language to add new features to Stata. In this quarter’s column, we investigate underflow and overflow and then delve into the details of how floating-point numbers are stored in the IEEE 754 floating-point standard. We show how to test for overflow and underflow. We demonstrate how to use the %21x format to see underflow and the %16H, %16L, %8H, and %8L formats for displaying the byte content of doubles and floats.

Suggested Citation

  • Jean Marie Linhart, 2008. "Mata Matters: Overflow, underflow and the IEEE floating-point format," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 8(2), pages 255-268, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:tsj:stataj:v:8:y:2008:i:2:p:255-268
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. William Gould, 2006. "Mata Matters: Precision," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 6(4), pages 550-560, December.
    2. Nicholas J. Cox, 2006. "Stata tip 33: Sweet sixteen: Hexadecimal formats and precision problems," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 6(2), pages 282-283, June.
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