# Gavin Andresen
# 2011-01-29 15:27:44
# https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3034.msg42423#msg42423

ribuck: @p{par}

Accuracy/precision is a red-herring unless you're treating numbers as strings, since JSON-RPC numbers ARE ALWAYS double-precision floating point numbers (according to the JavaScript/ECMAScript spec).  Bitcoin could send a number that looks like 2100000000000001, but the code that interprets that JSON-RPC number will convert it into an inexact double-precision floating-point equivalent.  And then the code that displays that number will have to decide how to round and format that inexact floating point number and display it to the user. @p{par}

When we need more than 51 bits of precision (wouldn't THAT be a fantastic problem to have!), then we'd HAVE to send numbers as strings, and have the JavaScript (or whatever) on the other end feed them into a bignum-type library to handle them.