ETYM Latin, an addition, makeweight; of Tuscan origin.
Decimal part of logarithm.
In mathematics, the decimal part of a logarithm. For example, the logarithm of 347.6 is 2.5411; in this case, the 0.5411 is the mantissa, and the integral (whole number) part of the logarithm, the 2, is the characteristic.
1. In calculations that have logarithms, the positive decimal fraction of a common (base-10) logarithm. For example, the common logarithm of 16 is 1.2041; the characteristic, or whole-number portion, of the logarithm is 1 (the logarithm of 10); and the mantissa, or fractional portion, is .2041 (the logarithm of 1.6). See also characteristic, logarithm.
2. In floating-point notation, the portion expressing the significant digits of a number. For example, the floating-point representation of 640,000 is 6.4E+05. The mantissa is 6.4; the exponent (E+05) shows the power of 10 to which 6.4 is raised. Also called: significand. See also floating-point notation.
The positive fractional part of the representation of a logarithm; in the expression log 643 equals 2.808 the mantissa is .808; SYN. fixed-point part. + prikaži više

See mantissa.