Examples of Floating Point Numbers

• 0.00015, scientific notation: 1.5 x 10-4, C: 1.5e-4

• 15000, scientific notation: 1.5 x 104, C: 1.5e4

• Fixed point number forces the decimal point to the same relative position in the number

• Floating point number system will shift the decimal point as appropriate

  • Fixed point: 0.001, floating point: 0.1 x 10-2

• Using a floating point system gives better accuracy for a broad range of numbers in a computer (less truncation/rounding errors)

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