single precision vs double precision

[TheEatenCookie]

So i don't get it.

What is single precision and what it is for?

What is double precision and what it is for?

And please explane it in simple english.

[MrSuperb]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-precision_floating-point_format

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-precision_floating-point_format

explains it quite good ...

[Glenwing]

Double-precision floating point calculations use floating point numbers which are accurate to more decimal places, allowing you to specify values with higher precision.  It's used in scientific work, simulations, 3D modelling/animation work, and some other workstation-type tasks.

[rucdoc]

think of the largest number you can think of, and now the smallest. floating point allows a single entry to write either. double precision allows even larger or smaller numbers to be held thus you can use 1 data point for both meaning I can build a single system to track both small and large systems