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Floating point is a data type used to store numbers with a decimal point, expressed as a combination of mantissa and exponent. In C, the float type typically occupies 4 bytes, has a value range of about -3.4e38 to 3.4e38, and has a precision of about 6 to 7 decimal places. Due to the inherent inaccuracies of floating-point representation, it is recommended to use the approximate equality operator to compare floating-point values. Floating-point arithmetic may suffer from rounding errors and may not obey associativity and commutativity. Another floating-point data type is double, which occupies 8 bytes, has a larger value range and higher precision.
float represents floating point type in C language
What is floating point type?
Floating point is a data type used to store numbers with a decimal point. Floating-point notation represents a number as a combination of a mantissa (significant digits) and an exponent (exponent).
Range and precision of float
In C language, the float type usually occupies 4 bytes (32 bits). Its value range is approximately -3.4e38 to 3.4e38, with a precision of approximately 6 to 7 decimal digits.
Using float
To declare a float variable, you can use the following syntax:
<code class="c">float variable_name;</code>
For example:
<code class="c">float radius = 3.14;</code>
Floating Point Comparison
Due to the inherent inaccuracies of floating point representation, you need to be careful when comparing floating point values using the equality (==) operator. It is recommended to use the approximate equality (~=) operator to compare floating point values, which allows for a certain degree of error.
Floating point operations
In floating point operations, rounding errors may occur. Furthermore, floating point operations do not always obey the associative and commutative laws.
The difference between float and double
Another floating-point data type is double, which usually occupies 8 bytes (64 bits). double has a larger range of values and higher precision (about 15 to 16 decimal places) than float.
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