Signaling NaN
Definition
In the IEEE 754-2008 standard (referred to as IEEE 754 henceforth), a signaling NaN or sNaN is a NaN which is signaling in the sense of being most commonly returned in conjunction with various exceptions and handling mechanisms defined therefor. This is in contrast to the quiet NaN (qNaN) which rarely signals a floating-point exception of any kind (IEEE Computer Society 2008).
Related terms
arithmetic | biased exponent | floating-point algebra | floating-point arithmetic | floating-point exponent | floating-point normal number | floating-point number | floating-point preferred exponent | floating-point quantum | floating-point representation | IEEE 754-2008 | interval arithmetic | NaN | quiet NaN | significand | subnormal number
