floating point

noun

1. a decimal point whose location is not fixed, used especially in computer operations.

floating-point

/ flō′tĭng-point′ /

1. Relating to a method of representing numerical quantities that uses two sets of integers, a mantissa and a characteristic, in which the value of the number is understood to be equal to the mantissa multiplied by a base (often 10) raised to the power of the characteristic. Scientific notation is one means of displaying floating-point numbers.

Example Sentences

Operations for floating point numbers are handled by programming.

From Project Gutenberg

Thus floating point numbers are essentially handled as regular logical works.

From Project Gutenberg

A set of subroutines are provided with the PDP-3 to perform floating point arithmetic.

From Project Gutenberg