Variable of Type "double" in C programming

How to Declare a Variable of Type double in C

In C programming, the double data type is used to store double-precision floating-point numbers. These are numbers that require more precision than the float data type can provide. Here's how you can declare a variable of type double in C.

Declaring a double Variable

The syntax to declare a variable of type double is straightforward:

double variable_name;

Here, variable_name is the name of the variable you want to use, and double specifies the type of data the variable will hold.

Example in C

Let’s look at an example where we declare a double variable and assign a value to it:

#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
    double pi = 3.141592653589793;
    printf("Value of pi: %f\n", pi);

    return 0;
}

In this example:

• The variable pi is declared as a double and initialized with the value of pi (up to 15 decimal places).
• The printf function is used to display the value of pi, formatted as a floating-point number.

When to Use double

Use the double data type when you need to store numbers that require a higher degree of precision, such as scientific calculations, where the precision of a float might not be sufficient.

Note: Although double provides more precision than float, it also consumes more memory (typically 8 bytes). Use it only when necessary to optimize memory usage.