Report Number: CS-TR-71-211
Institution: Stanford University, Department of Computer Science
Title: Algorithms to reveal properties of floating-point arithmetic
Author: Malcolm, Michael A.
Date: March 1971
Abstract: Two algorithms are presented in the form of Fortran subroutines. Each subroutine computes the radix and number of digits of the floating-point numbers and whether rounding or chopping is done by the machine on which it is run. The methods are shown to work on any "reasonable" floating-point computer.
http://i.stanford.edu/pub/cstr/reports/cs/tr/71/211/CS-TR-71-211.pdf