that equated to 64 bits of precision for the mantissa, and 16 bits for the exponent and sign - the remaining 2 bytes being unused

Ah! That makes a (little) sense of it.

It'd be interesting to see a quick comparison of the performance of 64-bit .v. 80-bit .v. 128-bit. The latter must be an order of magnitude or more slower than the other two?


Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.
"Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority".
In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.

In reply to Re^6: How to find out if it is 32bit or 64bit windows? by BrowserUk
in thread How to find out if it is 32bit or 64bit windows? by Anonymous Monk

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