cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/8653164

Transcript:

Cueball: Hey, check it out: eπ−π is 19.999099979. That’s weird.
Black Hat: Yeah. That’s how I got kicked out of the ACM in college.
Cueball: …what?

Black Hat: During a competition, I told the programmers on our team that eπ−π was a standard test of floating-point handlers – it would come out to 20 unless they had rounding errors.

Cueball: That’s awful.
Black Hat: Yeah, they dug through half their algorithms looking for the bug before they figured it out.

Hover text:

Also, I hear the 4th root of (92 + 192/22) is pi.

  • @WodgeEnglish
    25•5 months ago

    My kid is studying physics in university, and she comes home and tells me physics anecdotes which I don’t understand, so I always reply “That’s Numberwang!”.

    So I can see these types of conversations happening between math and programming types.

    • @voracitudeEnglish
      5•5 months ago

      That is a truly excellent response! Anyone in this thread who hasn’t seen “That Mitchell & Webb Look” should go watch it - you’re in for a treat.