std::numeric_limits::tinyness_before

static const bool tinyness_before;		(until C++11)
static constexpr bool tinyness_before;		(since C++11)

The value of std::numeric_limits<T>::tinyness_before is true for all floating-point types T that test results of floating-point expressions for underflow before rounding.

Standard specializations

`T`	value of `std::numeric_limits<T>::tinyness_before`
/* non-specialized */	`false`
`bool`	`false`
`char`	`false`
`signed char`	`false`
`unsigned char`	`false`
`wchar_t`	`false`
`char16_t`	`false`
`char32_t`	`false`
`short`	`false`
`unsigned short`	`false`
`int`	`false`
`unsigned int`	`false`
`long`	`false`
`unsigned long`	`false`
`long long`	`false`
`unsigned long long`	`false`
`float`	implementation-defined
`double`	implementation-defined
`long double`	implementation-defined

Notes

Standard-compliant IEEE 754 floating-point implementations are required to detect the floating-point underflow, and have two alternative situations where this can be done.

1) Underflow occurs (and FE_UNDERFLOW may be raised) if a computation produces a result whose absolute value, computed as though both the exponent range and the precision were unbounded, is smaller than std::numeric_limits<T>::min(). Such implementation detects tinyness before rounding (e.g. UltraSparc, POWER).

2) Underflow occurs (and FE_UNDERFLOW may be raised) if after the rounding of the result to the target floating-point type (that is, rounding to std::numeric_limits<T>::digits bits), the result's absolute value is smaller than std::numeric_limits<T>::min(). Formally, the absolute value of a nonzero result computed as though the exponent range were unbounded is smaller than std::numeric_limits<T>::min(). Such implementation detects tinyness after rounding (e.g. SuperSparc)

Example

Multiplication of the largest subnormal number by the number one machine epsilon greater than 1.0 gives the tiny value 0x0.fffffffffffff8p-1022 before rounding, but normal value 1p-1022 after rounding. The implementation used to execute this test (IBM Power7) detects tinyness before rounding.

#include <iostream>
#include <limits>
#include <cmath>
#include <cfenv>
int main()
{
    std::cout << "Tinyness before: " << std::boolalpha
              << std::numeric_limits<double>::tinyness_before << '\n';
 
    double denorm_max = std::nextafter(std::numeric_limits<double>::min(), 0);
    double multiplier = 1 + std::numeric_limits<double>::epsilon();
 
    std::feclearexcept(FE_ALL_EXCEPT);
 
    double result = denorm_max*multiplier; // Underflow only if tinyness_before
 
    if(std::fetestexcept(FE_UNDERFLOW))
        std::cout << "Underflow detected\n";
 
    std::cout << std::hexfloat << denorm_max << " x " << multiplier  <<  " = "
              << result << '\n';
}

Possible output:

Tinyness before: true
Underflow detected
0xf.ffffffffffffp-1030 x 0x1.0000000000001p+0 = 0x1p-1022

has_denorm_loss [static]	identifies the floating-point types that detect loss of precision as denormalization loss rather than inexact result (public static member constant)
has_denorm [static]	identifies the denormalization style used by the floating-point type (public static member constant)

std::numeric_limits::tinyness_before

Standard specializations

Notes

Example

See also