• korstmos@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Because even a long (64-bit int) is too small :)
    A long can hold 2^64-1 = 1.84E19
    A double can hold 1.79E308

    Double does some black magic with an exponent, and can hold absolutely massive numbers!

    Double also has some situations that it defines as “infinity”, a concept that does not exist in long as far as I know (?)