std.math performance (SSE vs. real)

[John Colvin via Digitalmars-d]

On Saturday, 28 June 2014 at 14:01:13 UTC, Andrei Alexandrescu 
wrote:
> On 6/28/14, 3:42 AM, Walter Bright wrote:
>> Inverting matrices is commonplace for solving N equations with 
>> N
>> unknowns.
>
> Actually nobody does that.
>
> Also, one consideration is that the focus of numeric work 
> changes with time; nowadays it's all about machine learning

It's the most actively publicised frontier, perhaps, but there's 
a huge amount of solid work happening elsewhere. People still 
need better fluid, molecular dynamics etc. simulations, numerical 
PDE solvers, finite element modelling and so on. There's a whole 
world out there :)

That doesn't diminish your main point though.

> For better or worse modern computing units have focused on 32- 
> and 64-bit float, leaving 80-bit floats neglected. I think it's 
> time to accept that simple fact and act on it, instead of 
> claiming we're the best in the world at FP math while everybody 
> else speeds by.
>
>
> Andrei

+1