<programming> A number representation consisting of a
mantissa, M, an exponent, E, and an (assumed) radix (or
"base") . The number represented is M*R^E where R is the
radix - usually ten but sometimes 2.
Many different representations are used for the mantissa and
exponent themselves. The IEEE specify a standard
representation which is used by many hardware floating-point
systems.
See also floating-point accelerator, floating-point unit.
Normalisation is the process of converting a floating point
number into canonical form where any number other than zero
has a mantissa whose first digit is non-zero.
