Floating-point arithmetic: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 13:28, 11 March 2025

Revision as of 08:29, 12 March 2025

Line 48:

Floating-point representation is similar in concept to scientific notation. Logically, a floating-point number consists of:

* A signed (meaning positive or negative) digit string of a given length in a given [[radix]] (or base). This digit string is referred to as the ''[[significand]]'', ''mantissa'', or ''coefficient''.<ref group="nb" name="NB_Significand"/> The length of the significand determines the ''precision'' to which numbers can be represented. The radix point position is assumed always to be somewhere within the significand—often just after or just before the most significant digit, or to the right of the rightmost (least significant) digit. This article generally follows the convention that the radix point is set just after the most significant (leftmost) digit.

* A signed integer [[exponent]] (also referred to as the ''characteristic'', or ''scale''),<ref group="nb" name="NB_Exponent"/> which modifies the magnitude of the number.