What are the applications/benefits of an 80-bit extended precision data type?

Question

Yeah, I meant to say 80-bit. That\'s not a typo...

My experience with floating point variables has always involved 4-byte multiples, like singles (32 bit),

Answer 1

I used 80-bit for some pure math research. I had to sum terms in an infinite series that grew quite large, outside the range of doubles. Convergence and accuracy weren't concerns, just the ability to handle large exponents like 1E1000. Perhaps some clever algebra could have simplified things, but it was way quicker and easier to just code an algorithm with extended precision, than to spend any time thinking about it.