How Floating-Point Numbers Are Represented

Computers need to store real-numbered values, but how do they do it? There are multiple choices for how we could represent real-numbered values, but the floating-point representation standardized in IEEE 754 is the most common choice. Here, we explore how that representation works, the difference between single- and double-precision values, and what the tradeoffs are. *** Spanning Tree is an educational video series about computer science and mathematics. See more at https://spanningtree.me To be notified when a new video is released, sign up for the Spanning Tree mailing list at https://spanningtree.substack.com/ You can support the Spanning Tree channel at https://ko-fi.com/spanningtree Spanning Tree is created by Brian Yu. https://brianyu.me/ Email me at [email protected] to suggest a future topic.