mantissa

[man-tis-uh] /mænˈtɪs ə/

noun

Mathematics. the decimal part of a common logarithm.

Obsolete. an addition of little or no importance, as to a literary work.

Origin

1860-65; < Latin, variant of mantisa addition, makeweight, said to be from Etruscan; logarithmic mantissa so called because it is additional to the characteristic or integral part (term introduced by H. Briggs)

Examples from the web for mantissa

The mantissa is drawn next to the major tick and the exponent string is appended to the axis label.
Properties of float types include the size and location of the exponent and mantissa, and the location of the sign bit.

British Dictionary definitions for mantissa

mantissa

/mænˈtɪsə/

noun

the fractional part of a common logarithm representing the digits of the associated number but not its magnitude: the mantissa of 2.4771 is .4771 Compare characteristic (sense 2a)

Word Origin

C17: from Latin: something added, of Etruscan origin

Word Origin and History for mantissa

decimal part of a logarithm, 1865, from Latin mantisa "a worthless addition, makeweight," perhaps a Gaulish word introduced into Latin via Etruscan (cf. Old Irish meit, Welsh maint "size").

mantissa in Science

mantissa

(mān-tĭs'ə)
The part of a logarithm to the base ten that is to the right of the decimal point. For example, if 2.749 is a logarithm, .749 is the mantissa. Compare characteristic.

mantissa in Technology

1. The part of a floating point number which, when multiplied by its radix raised to the power of its exponent, gives its value. The mantissa may include the number's sign or this may be considered to be a separate part.
2. The fractional part of a logarithm.
(1996-06-15)