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Positive and negative infinitesimals12/31/2023 ![]() So why is a negative zero valuable in computing? I'm sure I'm just missing something. The more mathematical resources I've been able to find state that there is no distinguishing between the two from a mathematical perspective, and the Wikipedia article seems to suggest that this is rarely seen outside of computing aside from describing limits. (Although, the particular example of the complex square roots looks flat out wrong, since the two numbers are mathematically equivalent, unless I have a misunderstanding.) But I have been unable to find a clear statement of the kind of trouble you would get into if it wasn't there. This answer lists a couple of functions that behave differently, and perhaps something could be inferred from the examples if you're familiar with how they might be used. Wikipedia's article on the concept isn't especially helpful it only makes vague claims about signed zero making certain mathematical operations simpler in floating point, if I understand correctly. ![]() I've never had the opportunity to write code involving complex numbers, so I'm a little baffled about why this would be the case. I vaguely recall reading claims that having a negative zero representation is extremely important in programming that involves complex numbers. I'm confused about why we care about different representations for positive and negative zero.
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