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If a Long Integer and a float both take 4 bytes to store in memory then why are their ranges different?
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They have different sizes and precision. Basically all of them represent the decimal values such as 3.14 The main difference between them is that in float we can store values upto 4 bytes (6 places after decimal point) Double upto 8 bytes And long double even more than float and double.
Integers and floats are two different kinds of numerical data. An integer (more commonly called an int) is a number without a decimal point. A float is a floating-point number, which means it is a number that has a decimal place. Floats are used when more precision is needed.
The long float is a K&R C first edition type that existed. It is synonymous with double . After the first standard C89/C90, long float is removed. It is not deprecated.
Integers are stored like this:
Floats are stored differently, giving greater range at the expense of accuracy:
Float is represented in the exponential form: (+/-)S*(base)^E
BTW, "long" isn't always 32 bits. See this article.
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Different way to encode your numbers.
Long counts up from 1 to 2^(4*8).
Float uses only 23 of the 32 bits for the "counting". But it adds "range" with an exponent in the other bits. So you have bigger numbers, but they are less accurate (in the lower based parts):
1.2424 * 10^54 (mantisse * exponent) is certainly bigger than 2^32. But you can discern a long 2^31 from a long 2^31-1 whereas you can't discern a float 1.24 * 10^54 and a float 1.24 * 10^54 - 1: the 1 just is lost in this representation as float.
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They are not always the same size. But even when they are, their ranges are different because they serve different purposes. One is for integers with no decimal places, and one is for decimals.
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