What range of numbers can be represented in a 16-, 32- and 64-bit IEEE-754 systems?

Question

I know a little bit about how floating-point numbers are represented, but not enough, I\'m afraid.

The general question is:

For a given preci

Answer 1

See IEEE 754-1985:

Note (1 + fraction). As @bendin point out, using binary floating point, you cannot express simple decimal values such as 0.1. The implication is that you can introduce rounding errors by doing simple additions many many times or calling things like truncation. If you are interested in any sort of precision whatsoever, the only way to achieve it is to use a fixed-point decimal, which basically is a scaled integer.