HalfFloat

HalfFloat represents 16-bit floating-point values.

This type does not actually support arithmetic directly. The expected use case is to convert to Float to perform any actual arithmetic, then convert back to a HalfFloat if needed.

Binary representation:

sign (1 bit) | | exponent (5 bits) | | | | mantissa (10 bits) | | | x xxxxx xxxxxxxxxx

Value interpretation (in order of precedence, with _ wild):

0 00000 0000000000 (positive) zero 1 00000 0000000000 negative zero _ 00000 subnormal number _ 11111 0000000000 +/- infinity _ 11111 not-a-number _ _ normal number

For non-zero exponents, the mantissa has an implied leading 1 bit, so 10 bits of data provide 11 bits of precision for normal numbers.