Computer number format |This article may need to be rewritten
entirely to comply with Wikipedia's quality standards. (February
2010)| ||This article needs additional citations for
verification. (February 2010)| A computer number format is the
internal representation of numeric values in digital computer
and calculator hardware and software. Normally, numeric values
are stored as groupings of bits, named for the number of bits
that compose them. The encoding between numerical values and bit
patterns is chosen for convenience of the operation of the
computer; the bit format used by the computer's instruction set
generally requires conversion for external use such as printing
and display. Different types of processors may have different
internal representations of numerical values. Different
conventions are used for integer and real numbers. Most
calculations are carried out with number formats that fit into a
processor register, but some software systems allow
representation of arbitrarily-large numbers using m