GNU MPFR

Last updated
GNU MPFR
Developer(s) GNU Project (INRIA and others)
Initial releaseFebruary 4, 2000;25 years ago (2000-02-04)
Stable release
4.2.2 [1] / 20 March 2025;2 months ago (20 March 2025)
Repository
Written in C
Operating system Cross-platform
Type Mathematical software
License LGPL
Website www.mpfr.org   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

The GNU Multiple Precision Floating-Point Reliable Library (GNU MPFR) is a GNU portable C library for arbitrary-precision binary floating-point computation with correct rounding, based on GNU Multi-Precision Library. [2] [3]

Library

MPFR's computation is both efficient and has a well-defined semantics: the functions are completely specified on all the possible operands and the results do not depend on the platform. [4] This is done by copying the ideas from the ANSI/IEEE-754 standard for fixed-precision floating-point arithmetic (correct rounding and exceptions, in particular). More precisely, its main features are:

MPFR is not able to track the accuracy of numbers in a whole program or expression; this is not its goal. Interval arithmetic packages like Arb, [5] MPFI, [6] or Real RAM implementations like iRRAM, [7] which may be based on MPFR, can do that for the user.

MPFR is dependent upon the GNU Multiple Precision Arithmetic Library (GMP).

MPFR is needed to build the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC). [8] Other software uses MPFR, such as ALGLIB, CGAL, FLINT, GNOME Calculator, the Julia language implementation, the Magma computer algebra system, Maple, GNU MPC, and GNU Octave.

References

  1. Vincent Lefèvre (20 March 2025). "Announce: GNU MPFR 4.2.2 is released" . Retrieved 20 March 2025.
  2. Fousse, L.; Hanrot, G.; Lefèvre, V.; Pélissier, P.; Zimmermann, P. (2007). "MPFR: A multiple-precision binary floating-point library with correct rounding". ACM Transactions on Mathematical Software. 33 (2): 13:1–15. doi:10.1145/1236463.1236468. S2CID   9641003.
  3. Higham, Nick (October 8, 2015). "The Rise of Mixed Precision Arithmetic" . Retrieved May 23, 2020.
  4. "Frequently asked questions about MPFR: 1. What are the differences between MPF from GMP and MPFR?".
  5. "Arb, a C library for arbitrary-precision ball arithmetic" . Retrieved May 31, 2022.
  6. "MPFI Project". GitLab at Inria. Retrieved May 31, 2022.
  7. "iRRAM, a software library for exact real arithmetic" . Retrieved May 31, 2022.
  8. "GCC 4.3 Release Series: Changes, New Features, and Fixes". 2012-11-02. Retrieved September 25, 2013.