High School Calculator automatic rounding is screwing up my calculation.

[Lebombo]

Hi,

When I type into my calculator 13.6/(1.000000001)
the calculator returns the answer 13.59999999

Then, when I type 13.6/(1.0000000001)
the calculator returns the answer 13.6.

Obviously, both 13.6/(1.0000000001) and 13.6/1 cannot equal 13.6,

so what's the deal with the calculator returning the wrong answer?

 

[mfb]

The calculator has a finite precision for displaying digits, it rounds 13.6/(1.0000000001) = 13.59999999864 (approximately) to 13.6. Try subtracting 13.6 from the result, often calculators have internally one or two more digits than they show.

 

[Lebombo]

Thank you