Exponent (floating point)
Beginner
The part of a stored number that says how big it is, like the “× 1,000” in 3 × 1,000.
Novice
The bits of a floating-point number that pick the power of two it is multiplied by. It is stored with a bias (for example 127 in FP32) so that both large and small powers fit in an unsigned field. More exponent bits mean a wider range.
Expert
A biased unsigned field of bits. The all-zeros code marks zero and subnormals; IEEE formats reserve all-ones for infinity and NaN, while OCP E4M3 and the MX FP6/FP4 types reclaim most or all of those codes for finite values. Range in binades minus the reserved codes, plus the subnormal binades.