[Maxima] strange behaviour with simple decimals

[Andrey G. Grozin]

On Wed, 11 Apr 2007, Jay Belanger wrote:
> If you do calculations in which every step can be carried out
> in the current precision exactly, and yet the answer is off, then I
> think something worth noting is going on.
Exactly! At last I completely agree with you.

"The current precision" means in most cases IEEE double precision. Some 
calculations, like 0.5 + 0.25 for example, can be carried out in the 
current precision exactly. And they are. Some other calculations, like 
1.4^2, cannot be carried out exactly. And they are not.

Andrey