GNU MPFR 3.1.2: Introduction to MPFR
Description: How to install and use GNU MPFR, a library for reliable multiple precision floating-point arithmetic, version 3.1.2.

Next: Installing MPFR, Previous: Copying, Up: Top [Index]

## 1 Introduction to MPFR

MPFR is a portable library written in C for arbitrary precision arithmetic on floating-point numbers. It is based on the GNU MP library. It aims to provide a class of floating-point numbers with precise semantics. The main characteristics of MPFR, which make it differ from most arbitrary precision floating-point software tools, are:

- the MPFR code is portable, i.e., the result of any operation does not depend on the machine word size `mp_bits_per_limb` (64 on most current processors);
- the precision in bits can be set exactly to any valid value for each variable (including very small precision);
- MPFR provides the four rounding modes from the IEEE 754-1985 standard, plus away-from-zero, as well as for basic operations as for other mathematical functions.

In particular, with a precision of 53 bits, MPFR is able to exactly reproduce all computations with double-precision machine floating-point numbers (e.g., `double` type in C, with a C implementation that rigorously follows Annex F of the ISO C99 standard and `FP_CONTRACT` pragma set to `OFF`) on the four arithmetic operations and the square root, except the default exponent range is much wider and subnormal numbers are not implemented (but can be emulated).

This version of MPFR is released under the GNU Lesser General Public License, version 3 or any later version. It is permitted to link MPFR to most non-free programs, as long as when distributing them the MPFR source code and a means to re-link with a modified MPFR library is provided.

### 1.1 How to Use This Manual

Everyone should read MPFR Basics. If you need to install the library yourself, you need to read Installing MPFR, too. To use the library you will need to refer to MPFR Interface.

The rest of the manual can be used for later reference, although it is probably a good idea to glance through it.

Next: Installing MPFR, Previous: Copying, Up: Top [Index]