Significand

The significand^[1] (also coefficient,^[1] sometimes argument,^[2] or more ambiguously mantissa,^[3] fraction,^[4]^[5]^{[nb 1]} or characteristic^[6]^[3]) is the first (left) part of a number in scientific notation or related concepts in floating-point representation, consisting of its significant digits. For negative numbers, it does not include the initial minus sign.

Depending on the interpretation of the exponent, the significand may represent an integer or a fractional number, which may cause the term "mantissa" to be misleading, since the mantissa of a logarithm is always its fractional part.^[7]^[8] Although the other names mentioned are common, significand is the word used by IEEE 754, an important technical standard for floating-point arithmetic.^[9] In mathematics, the term "argument" may also be ambiguous, since "the argument of a number" sometimes refers to the length of a circular arc from 1 to a number on the unit circle in the complex plane.^[10]

^ ^a ^b Cite error: The named reference Kahan_2002 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Clements, Alan (2006-02-09). Principles of Computer Hardware. OUP Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-927313-3.
^ ^a ^b Cite error: The named reference Gosling_1980 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Cite error: The named reference EE_1961 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Cite error: The named reference Savard_2005 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Cite error: The named reference Knuth_ACP was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Magazines, Hearst (February 1913). Popular Mechanics. Hearst Magazines. p. 291.
^ Gupta, Dr Alok (2020-07-04). Business Mathematics by Alok Gupta: SBPD Publications. SBPD publications. p. 140. ISBN 978-93-86908-16-2.
^ 754-1985 - IEEE Standard for Binary Floating-Point Arithmetic. IEEE. doi:10.1109/IEEESTD.1985.82928. ISBN 0-7381-1165-1.
^ Gowers, Timothy; Barrow-Green, June; Leader, Imre (2010-07-18). The Princeton Companion to Mathematics. Princeton University Press. p. 201. ISBN 978-1-4008-3039-8.

Cite error: There are <ref group=nb> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=nb}} template (see the help page).

[Kahan_2002-1] Cite error: The named reference Kahan_2002 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[2] Clements, Alan (2006-02-09). Principles of Computer Hardware. OUP Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-927313-3.

[Gosling_1980-3] Cite error: The named reference Gosling_1980 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[EE_1961-4] Cite error: The named reference EE_1961 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[Savard_2005-5] Cite error: The named reference Savard_2005 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[Knuth_ACP-7] Cite error: The named reference Knuth_ACP was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[8] Magazines, Hearst (February 1913). Popular Mechanics. Hearst Magazines. p. 291.

[9] Gupta, Dr Alok (2020-07-04). Business Mathematics by Alok Gupta: SBPD Publications. SBPD publications. p. 140. ISBN 978-93-86908-16-2.

[10] 754-1985 - IEEE Standard for Binary Floating-Point Arithmetic. IEEE. doi:10.1109/IEEESTD.1985.82928. ISBN 0-7381-1165-1.

[11] Gowers, Timothy; Barrow-Green, June; Leader, Imre (2010-07-18). The Princeton Companion to Mathematics. Princeton University Press. p. 201. ISBN 978-1-4008-3039-8.

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