Float and double data types

#1

please explain diff. between float and double?

#2

Hi Gokulsood,
Float and double both data types are used to store decimal numbers, difference is only that size of float is 4 bytes and that of double is 8 bytes.

#3

The main difference is Float and Double are binary floating point types and a Decimal will store the value as a floating decimal point type. So Decimals have much higher precision and are usually used within monetary (financial) applications that require a high degree of accuracy. But in performance wise Decimals are slower than double and float types. Precision is the main difference where float is a single precision (32 bit) floating point data type, double is a double precision (64 bit) floating point data type and decimal is a 128-bit floating point data type.

  • Float - 7 digits (32 bit)
  • Double-15-16 digits (64 bit)
  • Decimal -28-29 significant digits (128 bit)

Decimals have much higher precision and are usually used within financial applications that require a high degree of accuracy. Decimals are much slower (up to 20X times in some tests) than a double/float. Decimals and Floats/Doubles cannot be compared without a cast whereas Floats and Doubles can. Decimals also allow the encoding or trailing zeros.