Why is FLT_MIN equal to zero?
c, floating-point, numeric-limits
Solution
It's not actually zero, but it might look like zero if you inspect it using `printf` or `NSLog` by using `%f`. According to `float.h` (at least in Mac OS X 10.6.2), `FLT_MIN` is described as:
/* Minimum normalized positive floating-point number, b**(emin - 1). */
Note the positive in that sentence: `FLT_MIN` refers to the minimum (normalized) number greater than zero. (There are much smaller non-normalized numbers).
If you want the minimum floating point number (including negative numbers), use `-FLT_MAX`.
Problem
`limits.h` specifies limits for non-floating point math types, e.g. `INT_MIN` and `INT_MAX`. These values are the most negative and most positive values that you can represent using an int. In `float.h`, there are definitions for `FLT_MIN` and `FLT_MAX`. If you do the following: ``` NSLog(@"%f %f", FLT_MIN, FLT_MAX); ``` You get the following output: ``` FLT_MIN = 0.000000, FLT_MAX = 340282346638528859811704183484516925440.000000 ``` `FLT_MAX` is equal to a really large number, as you would expect, but why does `FLT_MIN` equal zero instead of a really large negative number?