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As a programmer, we have been told about floating points errors on computer. Do Calculators have floating point error too?

Example.

0.1 (display) = .0999999998603016  (actual value used) on computers

Not really 0.1 But you can see it is close.

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    Every calculating machine that does inexact arithmetic will have floating point error...2011-11-21
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    Calculators typically use decimal arithmetic and so can show "nicer" numbers than computers, which do binary arithmetic.2011-11-21
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    Also, calculators usually use more digits internally than they display. This tends to reduce roundoff error, but it does not eliminate it.2011-11-22
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    "Calculators typically use decimal arithmetic" - more precisely, [BCD](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary-coded_decimal).2011-11-22
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    I dont think calculators have round off errors as in floating points.2011-11-22
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    TomCat: “I dont think calculators have round off errors as in floating points.” I think that you are right, but why did you ask the question if you know the answer?2011-11-22
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    I don't know the answer. I am fixing floating point error in my program. I want to use calculator to compare the result and show the error. Of course the more you discuss, the clearer it becomes, but no that is not the answer. I am not an authority on calculators and if I say it shouldn't have error, that does not mean it does not have floating point errors. May be a different algorithm is used. I know there is some error in calculators too.2011-11-22

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Calculators are computers, too; they're just smaller. Surely if we knew how to represent arbitrary real numbers inside calculators, we could do the same thing with desktop computers.

That said, it's possible—both on a calculator and on a computer—to represent some real numbers exactly. No computer I know of would represent $\frac12$ inexactly, since its binary expansion (0.1) is short enough to put inside a floating point register. More interestingly, you can also represent numbers like $\pi$ exactly, simply by storing them in symbolic form. In a nutshell, instead of trying to represent $\pi$ as a decimal (or binary) expansion, you just write down the symbol "$\pi$" (or, rather, whatever symbol the computer program uses for $\pi$).

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    Calculators are, however, unlikely to represent $\pi$ symbolically.2011-11-21
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    If they did we would all be doomed. No body would use calculators in financial firms. I am sure they use different algorithm. But this is my instinct though.2011-11-21
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They do as long as you don't use one that uses symbolical calculations like the modern TI or Casio calculators.

One way to see it is to calculate iteratively roots of a number and then square the results again, if you do it often enough you will get a different result than the input due to numerical errors, this doesn't only have to do with the floating point representation but also with inaccurate root algorithms used in the calculator.