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 FLOATING POINT Definition
We define FLOATING POINT |
FLOATING POINT - A three-part representation of a number that contains a decimal point. The number is represented first by the sign, then the number itself, then decimal position. Some examples of floating point numbers are 4.23423412, 1234.1234234, or 4.00. Floating point numbers offer a specific amount of precision, often 8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit, or 64-bit. This precision controls how accurately floating point results are represented and calculated during arithmetic operations between floating point numbers. For a simple example, if you have a low level of precision and you divide 1 by 3, you will get 0.33. With a higher level of precision you would see that it is 0.333333333333, and so forth. Thus, your calculation is inaccurate by 0.003333333333 (which is 0.333333333333 - 0.33). A small inaccuracy such as that may not matter if you are pumping out frame rates on a 3D game, but if you are building an airplane's engine you might want to make sure your design program handles a proper amount of precision for the job you are doing. When writing software, larger floating point precision takes more space to store, and may be slower depending on the hardware you are running on. |
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