Retain precision with double in Java

Question

public class doublePrecision {
    public static void main(String[] args) {

        double total = 0;
        total += 5.6;
        total += 5.8;
        System.out         


        

Answer 1

If you just want to process values as fractions, you can create a Fraction class which holds a numerator and denominator field.

Write methods for add, subtract, multiply and divide as well as a toDouble method. This way you can avoid floats during calculations.

EDIT: Quick implementation,

public class Fraction {

private int numerator;
private int denominator;

public Fraction(int n, int d){
    numerator = n;
    denominator = d;
}

public double toDouble(){
    return ((double)numerator)/((double)denominator);
}


public static Fraction add(Fraction a, Fraction b){
    if(a.denominator != b.denominator){
        double aTop = b.denominator * a.numerator;
        double bTop = a.denominator * b.numerator;
        return new Fraction(aTop + bTop, a.denominator * b.denominator);
    }
    else{
        return new Fraction(a.numerator + b.numerator, a.denominator);
    }
}

public static Fraction divide(Fraction a, Fraction b){
    return new Fraction(a.numerator * b.denominator, a.denominator * b.numerator);
}

public static Fraction multiply(Fraction a, Fraction b){
    return new Fraction(a.numerator * b.numerator, a.denominator * b.denominator);
}

public static Fraction subtract(Fraction a, Fraction b){
    if(a.denominator != b.denominator){
        double aTop = b.denominator * a.numerator;
        double bTop = a.denominator * b.numerator;
        return new Fraction(aTop-bTop, a.denominator*b.denominator);
    }
    else{
        return new Fraction(a.numerator - b.numerator, a.denominator);
    }
}

}