So far, the only numbers we’ve dealt with are integers—numbers with no decimal point. Computers have a general problem with numbers with decimal points, because computers can only store fixed-size, finite values. Decimal numbers can be any length, including infinite length (think of a repeating decimal, like the result of 1/3).
The way a computer handles decimals is by storing them at a fixed precision (number of significant bits). A computer stores decimal numbers in three parts—the sign bit, the exponent, and ...
