The floating-point data type is a family of data types that act alike and differ only in the size of their domains (the allowable values). The floating-point family of data types represents number values with fractional parts. They are technically stored as two integer values: a mantissa and an exponent.
The floating part of the name floating point refers to the fact that the decimal point can “float”; that is, it can support a variable number of digits before and after the decimal point.
The data type follow a standard floating-point specification: IEEE Standard for Binary Floating-Point Arithmetic, ANSI/IEEE Std. 754-1985 (IEEE, New York).