The significand[1] (also coefficient,[1] sometimes argument,[2] or more ambiguously mantissa,[3] fraction,[4][5][nb 1] or characteristic[6][3]) is the first (left) part of a number in scientific notation or related concepts in floating-point representation, consisting of its significant digits.
Depending on the interpretation of the exponent, the significand may represent an integer or a fractional number, which may cause the term "mantissa" to be misleading, since the mantissa of a logarithm is always its fractional part.[7][8] Although the other names mentioned are common, significand is the word used by IEEE 754, an important technical standard for floating-point arithmetic.[9] In mathematics, the term "argument" may also be ambiguous, since "the argument of a number" sometimes refers to the length of a circular arc from 1 to a number on the unit circle in the complex plane.[10]
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