[alextgordon]

The use of != there is very confusing but what they mean is stores a precision along each number, not that -0 != -0.0

e.g. in Python:

    >>> from decimal import Decimal as D
    >>> 2 * D("1.0")
    Decimal('2.0')

    >>> 2 * D("1.000")
    Decimal('2.000')

    >>> D("1.0") == D("1.000")
    True

[Ericson2314]

That just means == is a "lossy" equivalence relation. I rather the precision be truely observable----every number is "infinite precision". Once can always include natural as extra field if one cares about empirical precision.

[tjonker]

I'm having a bit of trouble parsing this, but Ion decimal values are not "infinite precision". Every decimal has a very specific, finite precision. It's a standard "coefficient and exponent" model, with no specification-enforced limit on either.

[Ericson2314]

The idea is each number is adequately precise in that additional precision would mean additional useless trailing zeros.