pixelbath on Why a*a*a*a*a*a cannot be optimized to (a*a*a)*(a*a*a)? · Hackerly

Comment on Why a*a*a*a*a*a cannot be optimized to (a*a*a)*(a*a*a)?

The short answer: Because floating point math is not associative.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floating_point#Accuracy_problem...