[solved] Need help with ZScript floating point epsilon

[Nash]

I almost have no idea what this is to be honest but I think I know what's going on with my problem. I have this:

Code: Select all

// just some arbitrary value, also note that It can be positive or negative
double f = FRandom(-555555.0, 555555.0);

void somefunction()
{
    f *= 0.9;
}
 

So this number will eventually be decreased with time. I want the multiplication to STOP when - put it in plain english - "the number is as good as 0".

How do I do this? I've tried the usual comparison operators but I can't get it to work... I guess due to rounding errors?

[dpJudas]

Mathematically, what you are doing here would never reach a zero value, even if floats didn't have precision loss.

The solution is to define a cutoff value that is considered "as good as 0". You then check if the number is closer to zero than this value:

Code: Select all

f *= 0.9;
float virtuallyZero = 0.0000001;
if (abs(f) <= virtuallyZero) f = 0.0;

[Nash]

Thanks, that's precisely what I was looking for. :D