float32

PropertyValue
Size4 bytes (32 bits)
FormatIEEE 754 binary32 (single precision)
Approximate range±1.2 × 10-38 to ±3.4 × 1038
Decimal precision~7 digits
Literal suffixf32
Hardware supportNative on all supported targets

float32 is the standard single-precision float, fully IEEE 754 compliant. Special values (Inf, -Inf, NaN) are supported, and division by zero produces Inf or NaN rather than a fatal error.

Literals

let pi: float32 = 3.1415927;  // explicit annotation
let v = 1.0f32;               // type suffix

Unsuffixed floating-point literals default to float64; request float32 with the f32 suffix or an annotation. Decimal and scientific forms (6.022e23) are both accepted — see Literals.

Typical Use Cases

  • Graphics and game physics
  • Signal processing
  • Any domain where ~7 significant digits suffice

Arithmetic

OperatorDescriptionCompound
+Addition+=
-Subtraction-=
*Multiplication*=
/Division/=
%Remainder%=
**Exponentiationn/a
let a: float32 = 10.0;
let b: float32 = 3.0;

let sum  = a + b;   // 13.0
let quot = a / b;   // 3.3333333
let rem  = a % b;   // 1.0

Both operands must share the same type; mixed-width expressions require an explicit cast. Arithmetic rounds to nearest (ties to even), unary negation (-x) flips the sign, and results that exceed the range overflow to Inf. Subtracting nearly equal values loses significant digits (catastrophic cancellation) — reorder the computation or use a wider type when accuracy matters.

Division by zero never fails: it yields signed infinity, and 0.0 / 0.0 yields NaN. Inf and NaN then propagate — Inf - Inf and Inf * 0.0 are both NaN.

let p =  1.0 / 0.0;  //  Inf
let n = -1.0 / 0.0;  // -Inf
let u =  0.0 / 0.0;  //  NaN

Comparison

OperatorDescriptionResult
==Equalbool
!=Not equalbool
<Less thanbool
<=Less than or equalbool
>Greater thanbool
>=Greater than or equalbool

Both operands must have the same type; comparing a different float width, or a float with an integer, is a compile-time error — cast explicitly first.

NaN is unordered: every comparison involving it returns false, including NaN == NaN. Detect it with IsNan, never ==. For the same reason, avoid == between computed results and compare within a tolerance instead:

let x = 0.1 + 0.2;
let close = Abs(x - 0.3) < 1.0e-6;  // not  x == 0.3

Conversion

Rux implicitly widens to any larger float type, so no precision is lost. Narrowing must be explicit and rounds to nearest (ties to even).

let x: float32 = 1.5;
let wide: float64 = x;       // widening — implicit
let narrow = x as float16;   // narrowing — explicit cast

Float-to-integer conversions are always explicit and truncate toward zero; casting NaN or Inf to an integer raises a fatal error in debug builds.

let whole = x as int32;      // 1   truncates toward zero

See Also

  • float64 — the default double-precision float
  • float16 — narrower half-precision alternative