Significand

The significand (also coefficient, sometimes argument, or more ambiguously mantissa, fraction, or characteristic) is the first (left) part of a number in <a href="/facts/Scientific_notation/YgyYEmq8">scientific notation</a> or related concepts in <a href="/facts/Floating-point_arithmetic/eIckahxe">floating-point</a> representation, consisting of its <a href="/facts/Significant_digit/RUfYtpgo">significant digits</a>. For negative numbers, it does not include the initial minus sign.
Depending on the interpretation of the <a href="/facts/Exponent/pac6QY2g">exponent</a>, the significand may represent an <a href="/facts/Integer/PUwwrawx">integer</a> or a <a href="/facts/Fractional_number/7omfVNIM">fractional number</a>, which may cause the term "mantissa" to be misleading, since <a href="/facts/Mantissa_(logarithm)/q6EhDnWk">the mantissa of a logarithm</a> is always its fractional part. Although the other names mentioned are common, significand is the word used by <a href="/facts/IEEE_754/dD3e7zAl">IEEE 754</a>, an important technical standard for floating-point arithmetic. In <a href="/facts/Mathematics/pxTouaz4">mathematics</a>, the term "argument" may also be ambiguous, since "the argument of a number" sometimes refers to the length of a circular arc from <a href="/facts/1/d6SoCnze">1</a> to a number on the <a href="/facts/Unit_circle/VsTffjPK">unit circle</a> in the <a href="/facts/Complex_plane/vE0QrxJp">complex plane</a>.

Significand open-in-new

Significand