Floating-point numbers

A floating-point number consists of a signed significand and expresses a quantity that is the product of the signed fraction and the number.

A floating-point number consists of a signed exponent and a signed significand, and expresses a quantity that is the product of the signed fraction and the number 2**exponent. Encodings are provided in the data format to represent:

• Finite numeric values
• +- Infinity
• Values that are "Not a Number" (NaN)

Operations involving infinities produce results obeying traditional mathematical conventions. NaNs have no mathematical interpretation. Their encoding permits a variable diagnostic information field. They may be used to indicate uninitialized variables and can be produced by certain invalid operations.