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UNOTE 50‰                                                 Page # of 1
                                                       Ref:  UNOTE 50~
From‰:  Customer Services~                                  17 Oct 89~
Re‰  :  Rounding in the Uniplex spreadsheet~
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Some confusion exists about precision and rounding of spreadsheets -
this should clarify how Uniplex handles these issues.

The Uniplex spreadsheet always stores numbers to the full precision
available to the processor in use.

However, to give the most accurate possible visual representation,
numbers are always rounded on display.  For example, if 20 is divided
by three, the result is 6.666 recurring.  If precision to an infinite
number of digits were possible, practical and sensible, an infinite
number of 6's would follow the decimal point.  In practice, it is more
sensible to round or strip trailing decimal places at the point their
significance ceases to be relevant to the calculation;  when
calculating monies there is little sense in displaying accuracy below
the ˘ value, although it is logical to maintain precision on this,
such that subsequent calculations do not become erroneous.  Hence to
three places of decimal the above will be displayed as 6.667, although
it will be stored as 6.666666666666667.

Uniplex  will  always round the display, the number of decimal  places
being  defined  by  a format statement or the default  format.   Lotus
1-2-3  does  not  round  decimals on display  and  hence  for  display
purposes,  may  show  a  difference on  the  least  significant  digit
(Uniplex  being one significant digit greater).  Uniplex believe  that
it  is  more sensible to round on display, and hence show a figure  at
it's  most  accurate for the display precision defined;  for  example,
when  calculating a budget line item which has a real value of  $1700,
but  only  wishing  to  display   thousands  of  dollars,  should  the
spreadsheet show 1 or 2?