=item * Numerical
-Formatted output and significant digits
+Formatted output and significant digits. In general, Perl 5
+tries to be more precise. For example, on a Solaris Sparc:
print 7.373504 - 0, "\n";
printf "%20.18f\n", 7.373504 - 0;
# Perl4 prints:
- 7.375039999999996141
- 7.37503999999999614
+ 7.3750399999999996141
+ 7.375039999999999614
# Perl5 prints:
7.373504
- 7.37503999999999614
+ 7.375039999999999614
+
+Notice how the first result looks better in Perl 5.
+
+Your results may vary, since your floating point formatting routines
+and even floating point format may be slightly different.
=item * Numerical