the case for two's complement

sqrmax at cvtci.com.ar sqrmax at cvtci.com.ar
Sun Apr 26 23:36:04 UTC 1998


Hi Ian.

>Beeler M., Gosper, R.W. and Schroeppel, R., "HAKMEM", MIT AI Memo 239, 
Feb. 29, 1972.

YES! A GOSPERISM FROM HAKMEM!

>[...]
>By this strategy, consider the universe, or, more precisely, algebra:
>
>let X = the sum of many powers of two = ...111111
>now add X to itself; X + X = ...111110
>thus, 2X = X - 1 so X = -1
>therefore algebra is run on a machine (the universe) which is 
twos-complement.

This is great. Thanks! By the way, there are integer numbers with infinite 
digits that satisfy x^2 = x (not 0 neither 1).

Andres.





More information about the Squeak-dev mailing list