@node Floating Point Type
@subsection Floating Point Type
- Emacs supports floating point numbers (though there is a compilation
-option to disable them). The precise range of floating point numbers is
-machine-specific.
+ Floating point numbers are the computer equivalent of scientific
+notation. The precise number of significant figures and the range of
+possible exponents is machine-specific; Emacs always uses the C data
+type @code{double} to store the value.
The printed representation for floating point numbers requires either
a decimal point (with at least one digit following), an exponent, or