[Maxima] bfloat; arbitrary precision floating point arithmetic; speed relative to GMP,gmpy

[Raymond Toy]

Bartlett, Charles S. wrote:
> Please answer:
>  
> - the largest floating point (or big floating point) number that
> Maxima can handle is ~ 1.797e308 - correct? bfloat only allows
> changing the number of digits of precision, not increasing the
> exponent beyond 308?
That's the limit for IEEE double-float.  Maxima's bfloat is only limited
by the amount of memory you have for the Lisp implementation you are
using.  1b10000 works fine for me.
>
>  
> - any idea on the speed comparison between running equivalent
> operations in Maxima vice using GMP or gmpy?
I never measured it but I would guess it's slower.  Don't know how much
slower.  I think it really depends on how good the underlying bignum
arithmetic is of the Lisp you're using.  Some use GMP for that.  Others
have their own implementation.

Ray