What is the double type for?

Question

Is the double type simply for non-integer numbers or is there more to it. Why is it called "double?"

Answer 1

A double is indeed for non-integer number like 56,345
An int can't deal with the floating point ( , ) so only numbers like 56345

The name double comes from twice the size of a single precusion orn float. Where a single is 32bit a double is 64bit. So a double can hold a wider range of numbers than a single float.

Answer 2

The double variable is used for when you need to hold very large variables. doubles are floating point numbers that are DOUBLE (Get it? (float = 32 bit, double = 64 bit)) the size. The allows you to hold numbers with greater precision. 99% of your applications will use float so I wouldn't worry about grasping them to early on. But I would definitely recommend gaining an understanding into what floating point numbers are and what twos complement is.

Here is a youtube video on Floating Point Numbers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZRI1IfStY0

Here is a wiki:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floating-point_arithmetic

Answer 3

I think I understand now. Thanks for your help! It's greatly appreciated.