From: "Mauricio Fernández" <batsman.geo@...>
Date: 2002-12-12T09:44:48+09:00
Subject: Re: Proper Type for Dollar Amount

On Thu, Dec 12, 2002 at 04:03:25AM +0900, Eric Hodel wrote:
> Mark Probert (probertm@nortelnetworks.com) wrote:
> 
> > Interestingly, there are a bunch of rational approximations
> > for irrationals that allow you to do more "serious" math
> > using scaled integers:
> > 
> > const      ratio            error
> > ------     -----            -----
> > pi         355/113          8.5e-8
> > sqrt(2)    19601/13860      1.5e-9
> > sqrt(3)    18817/10864      1.1e-9
> > e          28667/10564      5.5e-9
> > c          24559/8192       1.6e-9
> 
> Ah, but c is exactly 300,000 kilometers per second*, if you use metric,
> its not a problem!
> 
> * in a vacuum

Emmm, no :-)

Speed of light in vacuum c = 1/sqrt(epsilon_0 * mu_0) =~ 2.997925 x 10^8 m.s^-1 (*)

It's a very good approximation, though.

(*) S. Ramo, J.R. Whinnery, and T.V. Duzer, Fields and waves in
communication electronics, 3rd ed, 1994

Value recommended by National Academy of Sciences---National Research
Council Committee on Fundamental Constants in 1963.

You might find a better value, though :) but I'm staying w/ 3e8m.s^-1 for my
calcs.

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