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Define the word floating-point

"floatingpoint" foldoc "The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03)"

floating-point
     
         A number representation consisting of a
        mantissa, M, an exponent, E, and an (assumed) radix (or
        "base") .  The number represented is M*R^E where R is the
        radix - usually ten but sometimes 2.
     
        Many different representations are used for the mantissa and
        exponent themselves.  The IEEE specify a standard
        representation which is used by many hardware floating-point
        systems.
     
        See also floating-point accelerator, floating-point unit.
     
        Normalisation is the process of converting a floating point
        number into canonical form where any number other than zero
        has a mantissa whose first digit is non-zero.
     
        Opposite: fixed-point.
     
        (1995-03-21)