Floating-Point Number Precision
Floating-point numbers are not always 100% precise, but they have numerous applications. For example, when we speak of a “normal” body temperature of 98.6, we do not need to be precise to a large number of digits. When we read the temperature on a thermometer as 98.6, it may actually be 98.5999473210643. Calling this number simply 98.6 is fine for most applications involving body temperatures.
Floating-point numbers often arise as a result of division, such as in this example’s class-average calculation. In conventional arithmetic, when we divide 10 by 3, the result is 3.3333333..., with the sequence of 3s repeating infinitely. The computer allocates only a fixed amount of space to hold such a value, so clearly ...
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