Metric prefix

A metric prefix is a unit prefix that precedes a basic unit of measure to indicate a multiple or fraction of the unit. While all metric prefixes in common use today are decadic, historically there have been a number of binary metric prefixes as well. Each prefix has a unique symbol that is prepended to the unit symbol. The prefix kilo-, for example, may be added to gram to indicate multiplication by one thousand; one kilogram is equal to one thousand grams. The prefix milli-, likewise, may be added to metre to indicate division by one thousand; one millimetre is equal to one thousandth of a metre.

Decimal multiplicative prefixes have been a feature of all forms of the metric system with six dating back to the system's introduction in the 1790s. Metric prefixes have even been pre-pended to non-metric units. The SI prefixes are standardized for use in the International System of Units (SI) by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) in resolutions dating from 1960 to 1991. Since 2009, they have formed part of the International System of Quantities.

C data types

In the C programming language, data types are declarations for memory locations or variables that determine the characteristics of the data that may be stored and the methods (operations) of processing that are permitted involving them.

The C language provides basic arithmetic types, such as integer and real number types, and syntax to build array and compound types. Several header files in the C standard library contain definitions of support types, that have additional properties, such as providing storage with an exact size, independent of the implementation.

Basic types

The C language provides the four basic arithmetic type specifiers char, int, float and double, and the modifiers signed, unsigned, short and long. The following table lists the permissible combinations to specify a large set of storage size-specific declarations.

The actual size of integer types varies by implementation. The standard only requires size relations between the data types and minimum sizes for each data type:

Double-precision floating-point format

Double-precision floating-point format is a computer number format that occupies 8 bytes (64 bits) in computer memory and represents a wide, dynamic range of values by using a floating point.

Double-precision floating-point format usually refers to binary64, as specified by the IEEE 754 standard, not to the 64-bit decimal format decimal64.

IEEE 754 double-precision binary floating-point format: binary64

Double-precision binary floating-point is a commonly used format on PCs, due to its wider range over single-precision floating point, in spite of its performance and bandwidth cost. As with single-precision floating-point format, it lacks precision on integer numbers when compared with an integer format of the same size. It is commonly known simply as double. The IEEE 754 standard specifies a binary64 as having:

This gives 15–17 significant decimal digits precision. If a decimal string with at most 15 significant digits is converted to IEEE 754 double precision representation and then converted back to a string with the same number of significant digits, then the final string should match the original. If an IEEE 754 double precision is converted to a decimal string with at least 17 significant digits and then converted back to double, then the final number must match the original.