ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Floating point

Okay kiddo, let me explain what floating point is in simple terms.

So you know how we use numbers to count things, right? Like if you have three cookies, you say "I have three cookies." But what if you have a really big number, like one billion cookies? It's hard to write out all those zeros!

That's where floating point comes in. See, computers use something called binary code to store and process numbers. But binary code has a limited amount of space, so it can only store numbers up to a certain size.

Floating point helps computers deal with really big or really small numbers by using a system where the decimal point (that dot in between the numbers) can "float" around, depending on how big or small the number is. So instead of writing out all those zeros in one billion cookies, the computer can just store the number like this: 1.0 x 10^9.

It's like a shortcut! And it makes it so much easier for computers to handle really big and really small numbers without taking up too much memory.

So that's what floating point is in a nutshell, kiddo. A way for computers to store and work with really big or really small numbers without using too much space. Cool, huh?