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A math question for /sci/

Name: Anonymous 2009-06-26 17:23

I coded a calculator that does floating point math. The exponent field of this calculator's floating point representation can handle values between 99999 and -99999. What sort of problems can /sci/ propose that would cause an overflow of this field? Are there any problems in real world physics that would exceed these orders of magnitude? I mean, wouldn't the gravitational force of attraction between two protons separated by the diameter of the Milky Way fit into this range?

Name: Anonymous 2009-06-26 18:03

electron mass 10^-31
grav constant 10^-11
that's 10^-73 before distance

so you need 99926 more powers of ten
so you want these two electrons to be 10^99926/2 meters apart. I'm fairly certain that's larger than the size of the known universe.

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