What are double precision numbers?

Some articles on precision, double precision, numbers, number:

X86 Extended Precision Format - Need For The 80-bit Format
... A notable example of the need for a minimum of 64 bits of precision in the significand of the extended precision format is the need to avoid precision loss when performing ... using the equation In order to avoid precision loss, the intermediate results "log2 x" and "y log2 x" must be computed with much higher precision because effectively both the exponent ... An IEEE 754 double precision value can be represented as where s is the sign of the exponent (either 0 or 1), E is the unbiased exponent which is an integer that ranges from 0 to 1023, and M is the ...
FLOPS - Records
... Each calculation request, such as to add or subtract two numbers, requires only a single operation, so there is rarely any need for its response time to exceed ... beating the IBM Roadrunner for the number one spot on the TOP500 list ... reaches 109 gigaFLOPS (Intel Core i7 980 XE) in double precision calculations ...

Famous quotes containing the words numbers, double and/or precision:

    “I had but three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for friendship; three for society. When visitors came in larger and unexpected numbers there was but the third chair for them all, but they generally economized the room by standing up.”
    —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    “I know [my label], in any case: a double face, a charming Janus, and underneath, the house motto: “Be wary”. On my business cards: “Jean-Baptiste Clamence, actor”.”
    —Albert Camus (1913–1960)

    “Concision in style, precision in thought, decision in life.”
    —Victor Hugo (1802–1885)