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<p><strong>Reference</strong> &nbsp;  <a class='wikilink' href='index.html'>Language</a> (<a class='wikilink' href='Extended.html'>extended</a>) | <a class='wikilink' href='Libraries.html'>Libraries</a> | <a class='wikilink' href='Comparison.html'>Comparison</a> | <a class='wikilink' href='Changes.html'>Changes</a>
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<p class='vspace'></p><h2>float</h2>
<h4>Description  	   	</h4>
<p>Datatype for floating-point numbers, a number that has a decimal point. Floating-point numbers are often used to approximate analog and continuous values because they have greater resolution than integers. Floating-point numbers can be as large as 3.4028235E+38 and as low as -3.4028235E+38. They are stored as 32 bits (4 bytes) of information.
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<p class='vspace'></p><p>Floating point numbers are not exact, and may yield strange results when compared.  For example <code>6.0 / 3.0</code> may not equal <code>2.0</code>.  You should instead check that the absolute value of the difference between the numbers is less than some small number.
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<p class='vspace'></p><p>Floating point math is also much slower than integer math in performing calculations, so should be avoided if, for example, a loop has to run at top speed for a critical timing function. Programmers often go to some lengths to convert floating point calculations to integer math to increase speed.
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<p class='vspace'></p><h4>Examples</h4>
<pre>    float myfloat;
    float sensorCalbrate = 1.117;
</pre>
<p class='vspace'></p><h4>Syntax</h4>
<pre>    float var = val;
</pre>
<p class='vspace'></p><ul><li>var - your float variable name
</li><li>val - the value you assign to that variable
</li></ul><p class='vspace'></p><h4>Example Code</h4>
<pre>
   int x;
   int y;
   float z;

   x = 1;
   y = x / 2;            // y now contains 0, ints can't hold fractions
   z = (float)x / 2.0;   // z now contains .5 (you have to use 2.0, not 2)
</pre>
<p class='vspace'></p><h4>See Also</h4>
<ul><li><a class='wikilink' href='Int.html'>int</a>
</li><li><a class='wikilink' href='Double.html'>double</a>
</li><li><a class='urllink' href='VariableDeclaration.html' rel='nofollow'>Variable Declaration</a>
</li></ul><p class='vspace'></p><p><a class='wikilink' href='index.html'>Reference Home</a>
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<p class='vspace'></p><p><em>Corrections, suggestions, and new documentation should be posted to the <a class='urllink' href='http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?board=swbugs' rel='nofollow'>Forum</a>.</em>
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<p class='vspace'></p><p>The text of the Arduino reference is licensed under a
<a class='urllink' href='http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/' rel='nofollow'>Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License</a>.  Code samples in the reference are released into the public domain.
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