For questions on the use of machine-precision real numbers (also known as floats), the numbers that can be directly manipulated through the underlying numerical capabilities of your computer system.

Mathematica supports arbitrary precision and exact numbers, but it can also operate using normal machine-precision floating point numbers of the kind used in Excel and many other programs. When using machine-precision numbers, all the usual issues around floating-point arithmetic apply, including the possibility that precision might decline in certain calculations.

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Example questions