Is there anything in the C++ standard (or the IEEE 754 floating-point standard) that guarantees that 1./std::numeric_limits<double>::infinity() is zero (or at least a small number)?
Is the inverse of std::numeric_limits::infinity() zero?
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4 Answers
Any finite number divided by infinity results in zero under IEEE 754 (and therefore the same in most typical C++ implementations).
If the sign of the of numerator and denominator differ, the result will be negative zero, which is equal to zero.
Yes, according to the GNU C library reference manual (assuming IEEE 754):
Infinities propagate through calculations as one would expect: for example, 2 + ∞ = ∞, 4/∞ = 0
https://www.gnu.org/software/libc/manual/html_node/Infinity-and-NaN.html
You may want to check if your C++ compiler uses IEEE 754:
How to check if C++ compiler uses IEEE 754 floating point standard
IEEE 754-2008 6.1 says:
The behavior of infinity in floating-point arithmetic is derived from the limiting cases of real arithmetic with operands of arbitrarily large magnitude, when such a limit exists. Infinities shall be interpreted in the affine sense, that is: −∞ < {every finite number} < +∞.
Operations on infinite operands are usually exact and therefore signal no exceptions,…
Since the limit of 1/x as x increases without bound is zero, a consequence of this clause is that 1/∞ is zero.
Clause 6.3 tells us the sign of the result is +:
When neither the inputs nor result are NaN, the sign of a product or quotient is the exclusive OR of the operands’ signs;…
if(std::numeric_limits<double>::is_iec559)
yes();
else
no();
(see 18.3.2.4)
IEC 559, which is identical with IEEE 754, guarantees that to be the case. However, C++ does not guarantee in any way that IEC 559 is in place (although 99.99% of the time that's just what happens to be the case, you still need to verify to be sure).
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