Floating Point Numbers in C
A real or floating-point number has an integral part and a fractional part which are separated by a decimal point.
e.g. 0.01 70.456 3e+5 .5067e-16 3.14159
Floating-point numbers can be either positive or negative and are always signed numbers. Floating point numbers can be positive or negative. There are three floating types
- float
- double
- long double.
Exponential (scientific) notation can be used to represent real numbers such as 123000.0 = 1.23×105 = 1.23e5 = 1.23E5.
e or E is read as “times 10 to the power” e.g. 0.34e-4 = 0.000034 2500 = 25e2
| Number | Scientific Notation | Exponential Notation |
| 1000000000 | 1.0×109 | 1.0e9 |
| 123000 | 1.23×105 | 1.23e5 |
| 322.56 | 3.2256×102 | 3.2256e2 |
| 0.000056 | 5.6×10-5 | 5.6e-5 |
A note on floats
A suffix can be appended to a floating constant to specify its type
| Suffix | Type | Example |
| F f or F | float | 3.7 |
| l or L | long double | 3.7L |
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