This is a great example of the fallacy of believing that a library automatically solves arbitrary issues.
Not if they come in as integers that have to be coerced at some point.
>What is the library supposed to do?
Compare ad to bc instead of ad - bc to zero, for one.
>This is a great example of the fallacy of believing that a library automatically solves arbitrary issues.
I didn’t say that and don’t believe it. My point only depends on he library having avoided more domain-specific rookie mistakes than I would have caught in five minutes, when it comes to computational linear algebra. Like the sibling commenter, I don’t think libraries are a panacea, and the answer depends on the specifics of the case.
In which case you can calculate the determinant exactly with your own roll, but a library will likely force you to convert everything to doubles.
>Compare ad to bc instead of ad - bc to zero, for one.
That is the same thing, a compare instruction is basically just a subtract that doesn't write the output, so you get zero/equality in exactly the same cases. Most compilers will probably turn your code into doing just one subtract and then check the flags, no matter which version you write.