Precision of Floating Point Numbers

Consider writing the value 1/3 out in decimal notation:

0.333333333333333333

The result keeps going, and going. There is no limit to the number of 3's required. With the float data type, there are only 32 bits, not enough bits to represent an unlimited number of 3's.

The data type float has 23 bits of precision. (The remaining bits of the 32 bits are used to indicate the size of the number.) This is equivalent to only about 7 decimal places.

The number of places of precision for float is the same no matter what the size of the number. Data type float can represent numbers as big as about 3.4E+38. But the precision of these large numbers will also be about 7 decimal digits. (For more on these topics, consult a physics or chemistry book.)

Remember this: data type float has about the range and precision of a cheap electronic calculator. This is usually not sufficient.

1230.00089F