IBM Extension
IBM Extension

Floating-Point

  • The sending item is converted first to an internal floating-point item, and then moved.
  • When data is moved to or from an external floating-point item, the data is converted to or from its equivalent internal floating-point value.
  • It is possible that when an external floating-point literal is moved to an external floating-point data item, the external floating-point data item can receive an inaccurate value. This is because the floating-point data type is an approximation. When an external floating-point literal is moved, it is first converted to a true floating-point value (IEEE), which can also affect its accuracy.
    For example, consider the following MOVE:
    77 external-float-1 PIC +9(3).9(13)E+9(3).
        MOVE +123455779012.3453E+297 to external-float-1.
        DISPLAY "EXTERNAL-FLOAT-1=" external-float-1.
    The displayed result of the MOVE is:
    EXTERNAL-FLOAT-1=+123.4557790123452E+306
End of IBM Extension
End of IBM Extension