arithmetic formats: sets of binary and decimal floating-point data, which consist of finite numbers (including signed zeros and subnormal numbers), infinities, and special "not a number" values (NaNs) interchange formats: encodings (bit strings) that may be used to exchange floating-point data in an efficient and compact form rounding rules: properties to be satisfied when rounding numbers during arithmetic and conversions operations: arithmetic and other operations (such as trigonometric functions) on arithmetic formats exception handling: indications of exceptional conditions (such as division by zero, overflow, etc.)