range of primitive numerics - double

Question

I am learning about the range of primitive types and I have question about type double.

If we know that double has 8 bytes (64 bits) - why is it impossible to determine minimum and maximum range of double?

long has 8 bytes as well but we can determine minimum and maximum.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1650505/what-is-the-inclusive-range-of-float-and-double-in-java — Mat, May 21 '13 at 20:25
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/specs/jls/se7/html/jls-4.html#jls-4.2.3 — Mat, May 21 '13 at 20:26
There is a minimum/maximum, they're just not necessarily named as intuitively as one might like. Read this: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3884793/minimum-values-and-double-min-value-in-java — Henry Keiter, May 21 '13 at 20:27

score 1 · Answer 1 · edited May 21 '13 at 20:27

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Pretty sure this is the maximum and minimum range:

MAX_VALUE A constant holding the largest positive finite value of type double, (2-2^-52)·2¹⁰²³.

MIN_VALUE A constant holding the smallest positive nonzero value of type double, 2^-1074.

according to the docs both of these functions return a primitive double.

edited May 21 '13 at 20:27

Eric Postpischil

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answered May 21 '13 at 20:26

Woot4Moo

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These are with a very poor minimum step. – huseyin tugrul buyukisik May 21 '13 at 20:29
@huseyintugrulbuyukisik hmm? – Woot4Moo May 21 '13 at 21:57
I mean when value is big, the minimum value that can be added/subtracted is big too. – huseyin tugrul buyukisik May 22 '13 at 09:45

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:50

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I wasn't aware that we wouldn't determine the minimum and maximum range of double. A quick google search shows:

Double covers a range from 4.94065645841246544e-324d to 1.79769313486231570e+308d (positive or negative).

If you look at this question though, you can find out more information: What is the inclusive range of float and double in Java?

edited May 23 '17 at 11:50

Community

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answered May 21 '13 at 20:26

Andrew Martin

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score 0 · Answer 3 · answered May 21 '13 at 20:26

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Doubles are not stored the same way longs or ints are stored.

It is stored similar to scientific notation.

That is, a certain number of significant figures and a power.

Edit, the answer above indicates that there is a min and max. However, this is due to a limit on how high the power component of the double can be (i.e. it can only take up so many bits).

answered May 21 '13 at 20:26

Chris Chambers

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i think you are confusing this with the Big* classes such as BigInteger. – Woot4Moo May 21 '13 at 20:26
There must be a maximal number, even if you are using all the atoms in the universe. – zw324 May 21 '13 at 20:27
Please see: http://docs.oracle.com/javase/specs/jls/se7/html/jls-4.html#jls-4.2.3. I have edited my answer to reflect your input. – Chris Chambers May 21 '13 at 20:28

range of primitive numerics - double

3 Answers3