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Precision (computer science)

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In computer science, precision of a numerical quantity is a measure of the detail in which the quantity is expressed. This is usually measured in bits, but sometimes in decimal digits. It is related to precision in mathematics, which describes the number of digits that are used to express a value.

In java, one of the few programming languages with standardized precision data types, the following precisions are defined for the standard integer numerical types of the language. The ranges given are for signed integer values represented in standard two's complement form.

Precision of java data types
Type name Precision (binary bits) Range
byte 8 -128 to +127
short 16 -32,768 to 32,767
int 32 -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647
long 64 -9,223,372,036,854,775,808 to 9,223,372,036,854,775,807

See also