Question

Discuss a situation in which you might want to use a floating-point number with a fractional part for a loop control variable. What are the pitfalls of using real numbers for the index variable in a for loop?

Answer 1

Answer:

1. When calculating the division of each number in some range of floating type number.

2. One cannot use real numbers for exact comparison. Two real numbers are rarely equal. Real numbers are have representational errors.

Explanation:

1. In structured programming, we make use of a floating-point number with a fractional part for a loop control variable. a given scenario is when we just want to calculate the division of each number in some range of floating type number. However, the downsides to using a floating-point number with a fractional part for a loop control variable are:

• They can cause 'off-by-one' failure
• A floating point number cannot represent all simple fractions exactly

2. The pitfalls of using real numbers for the index variable in a for loop:

• Two real numbers are hardly equal
• One cannot use real numbers for exact comparison
• The existence of representational errors