newRPL: Number formatting on screen

[Claudio L.]

(07-10-2015 03:33 PM)Didier Lachieze Wrote:  

(07-09-2015 09:14 PM)Nigel (UK) Wrote:  I personally like being able to limit the number of significant figures displayed without forcing use of scientific notation. So, for example:

pi is shown as 3.142;
100 000 * pi is shown as 314 200.

I find this behaviour misleading: it's one thing to limit the number of digit displayed (what you don't see, you don't know what it is) and it's another thing to display '0' instead of a valid digit: when you see 314200 on the display, the value of the two '0' digits may or may not be the value inside the machine. And nothing tells you which digits are real and which ones are not.

I specifically dislike the fact that 314200 * 2 = 628300, because the other digits are there, despite being displayed as zero. In that regards, 3.142e5 * 2 looks better to my eyes, so I know that the last digit is rounded.
However, while I personally agree with you, at this stage it's all about giving each user the choice of configuring his calculator any way he pleases, so if a number of people think it's a good display mode... why not, right?