Double-precision floating-point format (sometimes called FP64 or float64) is a floating-point number format, usually occupying 64 Bit in computer memory; it represents a wide dynamic range of numeric values by using a floating radix point.
Double precision may be chosen when the range or precision of single precision would be insufficient.
In the IEEE 754 standardization, the 64-bit base-2 format is officially referred to as binary64; it was called double in IEEE 754-1985. IEEE 754 specifies additional floating-point formats, including 32-bit base-2 single precision and, more recently, base-10 representations (decimal floating point).
One of the first programming languages to provide floating-point data types was Fortran. Before the widespread adoption of IEEE 754-1985, the representation and properties of floating-point data types depended on the computer manufacturer and computer model, and upon decisions made by programming-language implementers. E.g., GW-BASIC's double-precision data type was the 64-bit MBF floating-point format.
The exponent field is an 11-bit unsigned integer from 0 to 2047, in Exponent bias: an exponent value of 1023 represents the actual zero. Exponents range from −1022 to +1023 because exponents of −1023 (all 0s) and +1024 (all 1s) are reserved for special numbers.
The 53-bit significand precision gives from 15 to 17 significant decimal digits precision (2−53 ≈ 1.11 × 10−16). If a decimal string with at most 15 significant digits is converted to the IEEE 754 double-precision format, giving a normal number, and then converted back to a decimal string with the same number of digits, the final result should match the original string. If an IEEE 754 double-precision number is converted to a decimal string with at least 17 significant digits, and then converted back to double-precision representation, the final result must match the original number.
The format is written with the significand having an implicit integer bit of value 1 (except for special data, see the exponent encoding below). With the 52 bits of the fraction (F) significand appearing in the memory format, the total precision is therefore 53 bits (approximately 16 decimal digits, 53 log10(2) ≈ 15.955). The bits are laid out as follows:
The real value assumed by a given 64-bit double-precision datum with a given Exponent bias and a 52-bit fraction is
Between 252=4,503,599,627,370,496 and 253=9,007,199,254,740,992 the representable numbers are exactly the integers. For the next range, from 253 to 254, everything is multiplied by 2, so the representable numbers are the even ones, etc. Conversely, for the previous range from 251 to 252, the spacing is 0.5, etc.
The spacing as a fraction of the numbers in the range from 2 n to 2 n+1 is 2 n−52. The maximum relative rounding error when rounding a number to the nearest representable one (the machine epsilon) is therefore 2−53.
The 11 bit width of the exponent allows the representation of numbers between 10−308 and 10308, with full 15–17 decimal digits precision. By compromising precision, the subnormal representation allows even smaller values up to about 5 × 10−324.
e =00000000001<sub>2</sub>=001<sub>16</sub>=1: | (smallest exponent for normal numbers) | ||
e =01111111111<sub>2</sub>=3ff<sub>16</sub>=1023: | (zero offset) | ||
e =10000000101<sub>2</sub>=405<sub>16</sub>=1029: | |||
e =11111111110<sub>2</sub>=7fe<sub>16</sub>=2046: | (highest exponent) |
The exponents 000<sub>16</sub> and 7ff<sub>16</sub> have a special meaning:
Except for the above exceptions, the entire double-precision number is described by:
In the case of ( e = 0) the double-precision number is described by:
0 01111111111 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002 ≙ 3FF0 0000 0000 000016 ≙ +20 × 1 = 1 |
0 01111111111 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000012 ≙ 3FF0 0000 0000 000116 ≙ +20 × (1 + 2−52) ≈ 1.0000000000000002, the smallest number > 1 |
0 01111111111 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000102 ≙ 3FF0 0000 0000 000216 ≙ +20 × (1 + 2−51) ≈ 1.0000000000000004 |
0 10000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002 ≙ 4000 0000 0000 000016 ≙ +21 × 1 = 2 |
1 10000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002 ≙ C000 0000 0000 000016 ≙ −21 × 1 = −2 |
0 10000000000 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002 ≙ 4008 0000 0000 000016 ≙ +21 × 1.12 = 112 = 3 |
0 10000000001 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002 ≙ 4010 0000 0000 000016 ≙ +22 × 1 = 1002 = 4 |
0 10000000001 01000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002 ≙ 4014 0000 0000 000016 ≙ +22 × 1.012 = 1012 = 5 |
0 10000000001 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002 ≙ 4018 0000 0000 000016 ≙ +22 × 1.12 = 1102 = 6 |
0 10000000011 01110000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002 ≙ 4037 0000 0000 000016 ≙ +24 × 1.01112 = 101112 = 23 |
0 01111111000 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002 ≙ 3F88 0000 0000 000016 ≙ +2−7 × 1.12 = 0.000000112 = 0.01171875 (3/256) |
0 00000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000012 ≙ 0000 0000 0000 000116 ≙ +2−1022 × 2−52 = 2−1074 ≈ 4.9406564584124654 × 10−324 (Min. subnormal positive double) |
0 00000000000 11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112 ≙ 000F FFFF FFFF FFFF16 ≙ +2−1022 × (1 − 2−52) ≈ 2.2250738585072009 × 10−308 (Max. subnormal double) |
0 00000000001 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002 ≙ 0010 0000 0000 000016 ≙ +2−1022 × 1 ≈ 2.2250738585072014 × 10−308 (Min. normal positive double) |
0 11111111110 11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112 ≙ 7FEF FFFF FFFF FFFF16 ≙ +21023 × (1 + (1 − 2−52)) ≈ 1.7976931348623157 × 10308 (Max. double) |
0 00000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002 ≙ 0000 0000 0000 000016 ≙ +0 |
1 00000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002 ≙ 8000 0000 0000 000016 ≙ −0 |
0 11111111111 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002 ≙ 7FF0 0000 0000 000016 ≙ +∞ (positive infinity) |
1 11111111111 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002 ≙ FFF0 0000 0000 000016 ≙ −∞ (negative infinity) |
0 11111111111 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000012 ≙ 7FF0 0000 0000 000116 ≙ NaN (sNaN on most processors, such as x86 and ARM) |
0 11111111111 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000012 ≙ 7FF8 0000 0000 000116 ≙ NaN (qNaN on most processors, such as x86 and ARM) |
0 11111111111 11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112 ≙ 7FFF FFFF FFFF FFFF16 ≙ NaN (an alternative encoding of NaN) |
0 01111111101 01010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101012 = 3FD5 5555 5555 555516 ≙ +2−2 × (1 + 2−2 + 2−4 + ... + 2−52) ≈ 1/3 |
0 10000000000 10010010000111111011010101000100010000101101000110002 = 4009 21FB 5444 2D1816 ≈ pi |
Encodings of qNaN and sNaN are not completely specified in IEEE 754 and depend on the processor. Most processors, such as the x86 family and the ARM architecture family processors, use the most significant bit of the significand field to indicate a quiet NaN; this is what is recommended by IEEE 754. The PA-RISC processors use the bit to indicate a signaling NaN.
By default, 1/3 rounds down, instead of up like single precision, because of the odd number of bits in the significand.
In more detail:
Given the hexadecimal representation 3FD5 5555 5555 555516, Sign = 0 Exponent = 3FD16 = 1021 Exponent Bias = 1023 (constant value; see above) Fraction = 5 5555 5555 555516 Value = 2(Exponent − Exponent Bias) × 1.Fraction – Note that Fraction must not be converted to decimal here = 2−2 × (15 5555 5555 555516 × 2−52) = 2−54 × 15 5555 5555 555516 = 0.333333333333333314829616256247390992939472198486328125 ≈ 1/3
Additionally, many mathematical functions (e.g., sin, cos, atan2, log, exp and sqrt) need more computations to give accurate double-precision results, and are therefore slower.
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