definitions

floating point

noun

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

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Nearby words

floating gang, floating heart, floating island, floating kidney, floating partition, floating point, floating policy, floating rib, floating screed, floating spleen, floating stock
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Science definitions for floating-point

floating-point

[ flō′tĭng-point′ ]

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.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.