Definition of "floating-point" [floating-point]

• Of, relating to, or being a method of writing numeric quantities with a mantissa representing the value of the digits and a characteristic indicating the power of the number base, such as 3 × 10-5. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Results are frequently expressed in "petaflops," indicating that a quadrillion floating-point operations—a type of scientific calculation—are completed each second."
• "Based on data submitted so far, Mr. Dongarra said, the Sunway machine has "credible" sustained performance of about 795 teraflops--or trillion floating-point operations per second, a measure of scientific calculations based on standard tests."
• "Unlike today's supercomputers, with speeds that are measured in petaflops - a quadrillion sustained floating-point operations per second - the next generation will be measured in exaflops - a quintillion, or one million trillion floating point operations per second."