Significand

As mantissa is called the digits of a floating point number.

Example: In the number 2.9979 · 2.9979 108 is the mantissa.

Mantissa in logarithms

When working with decadic logarithms, it is also common to refer only the fractional mantissa. The reason for this is that they are the ones that determine the structure of the logarithmic number of digits, while the points represent their exponents before the decimal point.

Example: The decadic logarithm of 2.9979 · 108 is equal to log ( 2.9979 ) log (108 ) = 0.4768 8 = 8.4768. The reduced to its decimal logarithm 0.4768 is the logarithm of the mantissa 2.9979. The integer part of the logarithm, 8, is the exponent of 108

Mantissa in the computer science

In computer science, the mantissas for the representation of floating point numbers of paramount importance, which preferably by

Are shown. However, here the definition of the mantissa is apparently not so clear. Published definitions differ and are sometimes even contradictory.

Most frequently x.xxxx form the mantissa, wherein the most significant digit is shifted to the decimal point (the information transfer width direction and transmits the exponent ) is displayed.