Min and Max values of Float and Double types in Kotlin

Question

It's simple to find out what the exact minimum and maximum values for Integer and Long integer are in Kotlin:

Signed 32 bit Integer:

Int.MIN_VALUE       // -2147483648
Int.MAX_VALUE       //  2147483647

Signed 64 bit Integer:

Long.MIN_VALUE      // -9223372036854775808
Long.MAX_VALUE      //  9223372036854775807

But if I try to print Float or Double types' ranges for min and max values I'll get unbalanced numbers.

Signed 32 bit Floating Point Number:

Float.MIN_VALUE     //  1.4E-45
Float.MAX_VALUE     //  3.4028235E38

Signed 64 bit Floating Point Number:

Double.MIN_VALUE    //  4.9E-324
Double.MAX_VALUE    //  1.7976931348623157E308

Why are the positive and negative values in Float and Double types so different?

Answer 1

The conceptual definition of MIN_VALUE is different for integers vs floating-point numbers.

• Int.MIN_VALUE is the largest negative value.
• Float.MIN_VALUE is the smallest positive value.

In other words, 1.4E-45 is 0.00[40 zeroes]0014, and not a very large negative number. The largest possible negative value is represented by -1 * Float.MAX_VALUE.