INDEX
A fixed point representation may need a great many digits in order to represent a practical range of numbers.
A great deal of hardware is required in order to store and manipulate numbers with 80 or more bits of precision, and computation proceeds more slowly for a large number of digits than for a small number of digits.
Fine precision, however, is generally not needed when large numbers are used
Large numbers do not generally need to be represented when calculations are made with small numbers.
A floating point representation allows a large range of expressible numbers to be represented in a small number of digits by separating the digits used for precision from the digits used for range.
A floating point number can be characterized by a triple of numbers:
The range is determined by:
The precision is determined by: